f a horse or pony, and there was something to
guide them, though it was very often difficult to find and follow it.
They wandered on, however, until Dick's eye caught the gleam of silver,
and there lay his lost whip; so that, after all their riding, they had
but wandered round and round and come back to the place from which they
had started.

Poor Elsie, who was getting very tired, was very much disheartened, but
Dick choked down his vexation and disappointment, for it was at any
rate something for him to recover his whip, which he valued greatly.
Stonecrop was too much blown now to give much trouble, so he jumped off
and picked it up safely, and then he and Elsie held a long
consultation, and at last agreed to make straight for a high hill
towards which the sun was sinking. So they turned their ponies' heads
towards it, and started again, keeping their eyes steadily on a mound
or barrow on the hill-top. In a short time they found themselves clear
of the boggy ground; and the ponies stepped out so bravely that they
felt sure that they were going right. So they trotted on, greatly
encouraged, and came to a stream babbling over its bed of yellow
stones, though the ground beyond it was so steep that they were obliged
to follow it for some distance before they could find a way across.
Thus they were compelled to move slowly, and Elsie suddenly gave a
little shiver, and both she and Dick realised that the air was grown
chill and that the light was beginning to fail. Still they pressed the
ponies on, and at last they caught sight again of the barrow on the
hill, though, to their disappointment, it seemed little nearer than
before. Then even while they watched it, a great bank of gray mist
suddenly came rolling out of the west and blotted out the barrow and
the ridge on which it stood. Still they rode on towards the same
point, until, almost before they knew it, the mist was upon them and
they could not see fifty yards away. Their hearts sank within them as
the darkness gathered round them, but though they drew closer together
they said nothing, for the ponies still travelled on with confidence,
and they hoped that all the while they were drawing nearer to the
barrow. But the mist struck damp and cold through them, weary and
fasting as they were, and they had much ado to keep up each other's
spirits. So they wandered on, until the ponies, as if they felt that
their little riders had lost resolution, came to a dead sto