Carting in the Dark. 33 



When David had been about a year in his new 

 place, one of these smuggling booths settled down on 

 the march, that is, the boundary-line between one 

 farm and another. This had to be attended to, for if 

 one of these places were found on a farmer's ground, 

 he was liable to a heavy fine. David's master had 

 arranged with the smugglers to do their carting as 

 far as it was convenient, and, as he generally worked 

 with the horse, he at first did their work himself. But 

 as David knew the moor well, he had often to go with 

 his master on night work, and at last nearly the whole 

 of it fell to his share. This night work was no easy 

 matter. They often had to go a long way through 

 the moors in the dark without a trace of a road, and 

 it required one well acquainted with the ground to be 

 able to pick a way that a loaded horse and cart could 

 travel. Being sheep herd, and having consequently a 

 good knowledge of all parts of the moor, David was 

 pretty successful at the work. It was no unusual 

 thing for the horse's feet or the wheels of the cart to 

 sink so deep into some soft place that it was difficult 

 or impossible to get them out, until the cart was 

 partly or wholly unloaded. The worst trial he ever 

 had was on one very dark night. On the black peat 

 moss, it may be remarked, the darkness is greatly 

 increased, and on this occasion it was so great that he 

 could not see in the least where he was walking. The 

 cart was loaded with three bags of malt. As they 

 went along, on a sudden over went cart, horse, bags, 

 and all. He was far from help, and the horse could 

 not be left lying while he went to seek for any, so he 

 had to try what he could do unassisted to get him up. 



D 



