ed in the knee-deep snow of the field and made
for the fence.

Half a mile ahead there gleamed a light. I had, of course, to stay on
the field, and I drove along, slowly and carefully, skirting the fence
and watching it as closely as what light there was permitted.

I do not know why this incident affected me the way it did; but I
presume that the cumulative effect of three mishaps, one following the
other, had something to do with it; the same as it affected the horses.
But more than that, I believe, it was the effect of the skies. I am
rather subject to the influence of atmospheric conditions. There are not
many things that I would rather watch. No matter what the aspect of the
skies may be, they fascinate me. I have heard people say, "What a dull
day!"--or, "What a sleepy day!"--and that when I was enjoying my own
little paradise in yielding to the moods of cloud and sky. To this very
hour I am convinced that the skies broke my nerve that night, that those
incidents merely furnished them with an opportunity to get their work in
more tellingly.

Of the remainder of the drive little needs to be said. I found a way out
of the field, back to the road, drove into the yard of the farm where I
had seen the light, knocked at the house, and asked for and obtained the
night's accommodation for myself and for my horses.

At six o'clock next morning I was on the road again. Both I and the
horses had shaken off the nightmare, and through a sprinkling, dusting
fall of snow we made the correction line and finally home in the best of
moods and conditions.

END

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