26 RED DEER. 



had been burnt in the spring. My foot often 

 caught in the dead stems of furze withered 

 by the flames. A lark rose occasionally, else 

 the expanse was vacant of bird life — an 

 immense distance only. There was nothing 

 but distance. How far was it across this 

 roll or undulation, how far was it to the 

 coombe yonder, how far to the range of hills 

 beyond which rose higher than the high 

 moors, then to the second range farther still, 

 and to the third dim outline at the horizon? 

 These were the questions which con- 

 tinually arose. They were the only thoughts 

 suggested by so much distance. The eye had 

 nothing to rest on ; it kept travelling farther, 

 and whichever way I turned still there was 

 the same space. It was twenty miles to the 

 white cloud yonder looking through the air, 

 and so it was twenty miles to the ridge, not 

 the farthest, under it. The moor undulated 

 on, now a coombe, now a rise, now pale 

 grey-green where the surface had been 

 burnt, and then dark where the heather was 



