252 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



followed to the bridge over the Taff, and then turned off 

 towards the Beacons, the weather being perfect. It was a 

 delightful walk, on a gradual slope of fifteen hundred feet in 

 a mile and a half, with a little steeper bit at the end, and the 

 small overhanging cap of peat at the summit, as already 

 described in chapter xi. I searched over it for beetles, 

 which were, however, very scarce, and we then walked along 

 the ridge to the second and higher triangular summit, peeped 

 with nervous dread on my part over the almost perpendicular 

 precipice towards Brecon, noted the exact correspondence 

 in slope of the two peat summits, and then back to the ridge 

 and a little way down the southern slope to where a tiny spring 

 trickles out — the highest source of the river Taff— and there, 

 lying on the soft mountain turf, enjoyed our lunch and the 

 distant view over valley and mountain to the faint haze 

 of the British Channel. We then returned to the western 

 summit, took a final view of the grand panorama around us, 

 and bade farewell to the beautiful mountain, the summit of 

 which neither of us visited again, though I have since been 

 very near it. We took nearly the same route back, had a 

 substantial tea at the little inn at Ystrad-fellte, and then, 

 about seven o'clock, walked down to the cave to prepare our 

 quarters for the night. I think we had both of us at this 

 time determined, if possible, to go abroad into more or less 

 wild countries, and we wanted for once to try sleeping 

 out-of-doors, with no shelter or bed but what nature provided. 



Just inside the entrance of the cave there are slopes of 

 water-worn rock and quantities of large pebbles and boulders, 

 and here it was quite dry, while farther in, where there were 

 patches of smaller stones and sand, it was much colder and 

 quite damp, so our choice of a bed was limited to rock or 

 boulders. We first chose a place for a fire, and then searched 

 for sufficient dead or dry wood to last us the night. This 

 took us a good while, and it was getting dusk before we lit 

 our fire. We then sat down, enjoying the flicker of the flame 

 on the roof of the cavern, the glimmer of the stars through 

 the trees outside, and the gentle murmur of the little river 

 beside us. After a scanty supper we tried to find a place 



