he
would do my errand faithfully, and thank me; and, but for the sort of
madness that was still on me, I must have been ashamed to torture him
so. I am sorry now as I think of it, and many a man who has well
deserved punishment have I let go since that day, fearing lest that old
cruelty should be on me again, perhaps.

Then I turned and walked away, and even as I passed the weapons, I heard
the low howl of a wolf from the swamp to my right. Far off it was, but
at that sound the man cast himself on hands and knees and began to crawl
in all haste to free himself.

Then I laughed again, and plunging deeper into the wood, lost sight of him.

CHAPTER III. BY BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE.

I had never been into Sedgemoor before, and so went straight on as I
could, only turning aside from swampy places while the light lasted.
Then I must wait for the moon to rise, and I sat me down under an old
thorn tree on a little rise where I could see about me. I had come out
of the woods, and all the moor was open to the west and south so far as
I could see. I knew that the place was haunted of evil spirits, and
shunned at night time by all: but now I was not afraid of them--or
indeed of anything, save the wolves. The terror of the man I had left
had put that fear into my head, or I think that, desperate as I was,
only the sound of a pack of them in full cry would have warned me.
Still, I had heard no more since that one howled an hour ago.

Cold mists rose from the marsh, and in them I could see lights flitting.
A month or two ago I should have feared them, thinking of Beowulf, son
of Hygelac, and what befell him and his comrades from the marsh fiends,
Grendel and his dam. Now I watched them, and half longed for a fight
like Beowulf's. [iv]

At last the moon rose behind me, and I walked on. Once a vast shape rose
up in the mist and walked beside me, and I half drew my sword on it. But
that, too, drew sword, and I knew it for my own shadow on the thick
vapour. Then a sheet of water stretched out almost under my feet, and
thousands of wildfowl rose and fled noisily, to fall again into further
pools with splash and mighty clatter. I must skirt this pool, and so
came presently to a thicket of reeds, shoulder high, and out of these
rose, looking larger than natural in the moonlight, a great wild boar
that had his lair there, and stood staring at me before he too made off,
grunting as he went.

So I went on aimless. The night was ful