NOTES FROM DIAEY KEPT AT QTJICKIOCK. 127 



if I could cross this I should reach a village from 

 which a high road would take me home ; but the 

 country between this farmhouse and the village 

 was about the very worst I could have chosen to 

 cross on such a night. It was a wild, bleak, 

 cheerless track by day, and as there was no forest, 

 only here and there scattered clumps of trees, 

 there was no shelter, and nothing to stop the 

 drifting snow, which, in many places, now lay 

 four feet deep. The farmer pressed me to stay all 

 night, declaring it was impossible to cross the 

 lake ; but finding me determined, he said, as he 

 dare not send a horse out with me, I could take 

 one of his servants, who knew the lay of the 

 country, to put me into a track which led to the 

 village by the side of the lake. I may add that at 

 sunset the snowstorm set in again as bad as ever,, 

 and, although the wind was boisterous enough, it 

 came in wild gusts all round the compass, so that* it 

 was impossible to steer with any certainty by that. 

 Thus, as there were no stars visible, and as we 

 could not see a landmark for one hundred yards 

 before us, I had not the least guide, and if I once 

 lost the track it was all up with me. On leaving, 

 my friend the farmer shook his head forebodingly, 

 and, declaring he should scour the country next 

 morning to see if he could find my body lying 

 buried in a snow-drift, we parted. A wilful man 



