BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK. 



such, and a few moments of confidential discussion 

 at the bar sufficed for a programme superior to 

 any that the guide-books had to suggest. It is 

 in such affairs as these that the landlady and the 

 coffee-room-maid show qualities not to be found 

 in the landlord, or even the ostler. They can rise 

 above convention ; they have an instinctive percep- 

 tion of what the tourist, in his bewildered heart, 

 prefers, but fears to acknowledge ; and they are 

 capable of giving advice with a sound disregard 

 for the logic of precedent. Therefore it befell 

 that our bones are not now bleaching on the 

 " Beddgelert ascent " of Snowdon, and that, after 

 a large cold lunch, which included a delicious 

 but embarrassingly stony cherry - pie, we found 

 ourselves riding slowly towards the village of 

 Rhyddu. 



This was the scheme of the manageress. We 

 were to ride on to Rhyddu, leave the ponies at 

 the Ouellyn Arms, get a guide, and having ascended 

 Snowdon by the shortest route, sleep on top, see 

 the sun rise, and be back at Rhyddu for break- 



