126 BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The people of Rhyddu were unanimous on one 

 point. They united with enthusiasm to assure us 

 that there was a short cut to Llanberis, that the 

 same was easy, and also that it was advantageous. 

 At this stage of our inv^estigations, however, a 

 piano-organ with a monkey absorbed the attention 

 which, till then, had been lavished upon us and 

 the Tommies — and we left Rhyddu with nothing 

 better to guide us than an impression of hands 

 waving vaguely towards a spur of Snowdon, and 

 some sense of the vital importance of a certain 

 lane by a farmhouse. 



In the course of two miles we attempted three 

 lanes, and found they all ended alike at a barking 

 dog and a closed door ; finally, we addressed our- 



