he east; so he slept that night on the bank
thereof. On the morrow he rode up along it a great way, till again it
seemed to be coming overmuch from the north; and then he left it, and
made on east as near as he could guess it by the sun.

Now he passed through thickets at whiles not very great, and betwixt
them rode hilly land grassed mostly with long coarse grass, and with
whin and thorn-trees scattered about. Thence he saw again from time to
time the huge wall of the mountains rising up into the air like a great
black cloud that would swallow up the sky, and though the sight was
terrible, yet it gladdened him, since he knew that he was on the right
way. So far he rode, going on the whole up-hill, till at last there
was a great pine-wood before him, so that he could see no ending to it
either north or south.

It was now late in the afternoon, and Ralph pondered whether he should
abide the night where he was and sleep the night there, or whether he
should press on in hope of winning to some clear place before dark. So
whereas he was in a place both rough and waterless, he deemed it better
to go on, after he had rested his horse and let him bite the herbage a
while. Then he rode his ways, and entered the wood and made the most
of the way.

CHAPTER 3

Ralph Meeteth With Another Adventure in the Wood Under the Mountain

Soon the wood grew very thick of pine-trees, though there was no
undergrowth, so that when the sun sank it grew dark very speedily; but
he still rode on in the dusk, and there were but few wild things, and
those mostly voiceless, in the wood, and it was without wind and very
still. Now he thought he heard the sound of a horse going behind him
or on one side, and he wondered whether the chace were up, and hastened
what he might, till at last it grew black night, and he was constrained
to abide. So he got off his horse, and leaned his back against a tree,
and had the beast's reins over his arm; and now he listened again
carefully, and was quite sure that he could hear the footsteps of some
hard-footed beast going nowise far from him. He laughed inwardly, and
said to himself: "If the chacer were to pass but three feet from my
nose he should be none the wiser but if he hear me or my horse." And
therewith he cast a lap of his cloak over the horse's head, lest he
should whinny if he became aware of the other beast; and so there he
stood abiding, and the noise grew greater till he could hear cle