12 
EEEFY COMBES. 
his foot in; one in particular, known as “ Mole’s 
Chamber,” hears a had character. 
Tradition tells ns that at the close of a dark and 
foggy day, when even the most familiar objects be¬ 
come vague and deceptive, a farmer, who had been 
visiting his friends, determined to make a short cut 
to his home by a track with which he was well ac¬ 
quainted, and which on a bright summer day might 
be travelled easily enough. His friends tried to 
persuade him “ that the longest way round was the 
shortest way home,” that already the mist was 
thick upon the moor, and that before he could get 
far on the road night would have closed in. 
But Farmer Mole was obstinate ; “ he knew the 
way, he had travelled it a hundred times ; and even 
if he lost his way his good horse would find it 
again.” So the wilful man departed, and this was 
the last time Farmer Mole was seen. His wife 
waited in vain. The next day he was searched for, 
but without success. There were marks of his 
horse’s hoofs to the edge of the bog, but no trace 
beyond. Some tell that his hat was found lying 
on the surface; but however that may be, he is be¬ 
lieved to have perished in the bog, which is called 
Mole’s Chamber to this day. 
Some enlarge the tale, and say how, on moon¬ 
light nights, the belated traveller sees flitting over 
