94 THE HAUNTED 



inhabitants, was when the shadowy 

 forms of mountain ponies appeared and 

 vanished again in the darkness, or when 

 the patter of scuttling sheep could be 

 heard on the soft turf. Now and then 

 a snipe would rise from among the 

 rushes, and passing curlew whistle 

 mournfully in the distance. The slight 

 breeze carried on fitful puffs the sound 

 of the little stream far below as it rippled 

 round its stony bends, and that sleepless 

 bird the plover was just as persistently 

 uttering its " Pee-weet, weet-a-weet-a " 

 as it does by day. 



Before the lake is reached a broad ris- 

 ing plain of heather has to be crossed, 

 and there the walking is exceedingly 

 difficult. The rising moon cast a pale 

 light above the horizon which served to 

 make visible the treacherous bogs, with 

 their covering of yellow-green moss and 

 butterworts, but the moor was inter- 

 sected with other pitfalls. The path had 



