e
dean rode along now in the gray night, through the bewildering woods,
with the reins dangling and his thoughts far away. It was a long time
before he noticed how far along he was on his homeward way. When he
did glance up, he saw that the forest was as dense as it had been at
the beginning.

He intended to turn the horse at once, but the animal had never
strayed. Perhaps he, himself, was mistaken, the dean thought. But
suddenly a big branch struck him and almost swept him from the horse.

They were riding over a soft marsh through which there was no beaten
track, although the horse trotted along at a brisk pace and showed no
uncertainty. The dean seized the reins and turned the horse about,
guiding him back to the roadway. No sooner was he there than he turned
again and made straight for the woods.

The dean decided to walk and lead the horse until they came to more
familiar roads. He dismounted, wound the reins around his arm, and
started along on foot. It was no easy matter to tramp through the
forest in a heavy fur coat; and the horse refused to follow. He
planted his hoofs firmly on the ground and balked.

At last the dean was angry. He had never beaten his horse, nor would
he now. Instead he threw the reins down and walked away.

"We may as well part company, since you want to go your own way," he
said.

He had not taken more than two steps before the horse came after him,
took a cautious grip on his master's coat sleeve, and stopped him.
Afterward the dean could not understand how it happened but, dark as
it was, the horse looked straight in his eyes. He gave his master a
look that was both pleading and reproachful.

"I have served you day after day and done your bidding," he seemed to
say. "Will you not follow me this one night?"

Without further delay the dean sprang into the saddle.

"Go on!" he said. "I will not desert you when you are in trouble."

He let the horse go as he wished and it was a hazardous journey,
uphill all the way. The forest grew so thick that he could not see two
feet ahead, but it seemed as if they were climbing a high mountain.
The horse took perilous steps.

"Surely you don't intend to go up Black's Ridge, do you?" asked the
dean, who knew that was one of the highest peaks in Haelsingland.

They mounted up and up, and the higher they went the more scattering
were the trees. At last they rode on bare highland where the dean
could look in every direction. Great tracts of l