e tent; I then lifted up the shafts, and
was just going to call to the pony to come and be fastened to them, when
I thought I heard a noise.

I stood stock still supporting the shaft of the little cart in my hand,
and bending the right side of my face slightly towards the ground; but I
could hear nothing. The noise which I thought I had heard was not one of
those sounds which I was accustomed to hear in that solitude: the note of
a bird, or the rustling of a bough; it was--there I heard it again, a
sound very much resembling the grating of a wheel amongst gravel. Could
it proceed from the road? Oh no, the road was too far distant for me to
hear the noise of anything moving along it. Again I listened, and now I
distinctly heard the sound of wheels, which seemed to be approaching the
dingle; nearer and nearer they drew, and presently the sound of wheels
was blended with the murmur of voices. Anon I heard a boisterous shout,
which seemed to proceed from the entrance of the dingle. "Here are folks
at hand," said I, letting the shaft of the cart fall to the ground, "is
it possible that they can be coming here?"

My doubts on that point, if I entertained any, were soon dispelled; the
wheels, which had ceased moving for a moment or two, were once again in
motion, and were now evidently moving down the winding path which led to
my retreat. Leaving my cart, I came forward and placed myself near the
entrance of the open space, with my eyes fixed on the path down which my
unexpected, and I may say unwelcome, visitors were coming. Presently I
heard a stamping or sliding, as if of a horse in some difficulty; and
then a loud curse, and the next moment appeared a man and a horse and
cart; the former holding the head of the horse up to prevent him from
falling, of which he was in danger, owing to the precipitous nature of
the path. Whilst thus occupied, the head of the man was averted from me.
When, however, he had reached the bottom of the descent, he turned his
head, and perceiving me, as I stood bareheaded, without either coat or
waistcoat, about two yards from him, he gave a sudden start, so violent,
that the backward motion of his hand had nearly flung the horse upon his
haunches.

"Why don't you move forward?" said a voice from behind, apparently that
of a female, "you are stopping up the way, and we shall be all down upon
one another;" and I saw the head of another horse overtopping the back of
the cart.

"Why don't