They saw that it was the idiot's mother, and
Dick again repeated, though with much secret fear, that they had lost
their way.

"Is there no one with 'ee?" asked the woman astonished.

"No," said Dick sadly. "We're lost."

"Why, my dear tender hearts," said the woman in a voice of great pity,
"to think of that. But don't 'ee cry, my dear," for she could hear
Elsie sobbing gently, "don't 'ee cry, for 'tis all well now. See now,
my house is close by, and you'm safe, both of 'ee. Come long with me,
and don't be afeared; I'll take care of 'ee and take 'ee home safe
enough. To think of that now--" and so she went on, leading the way
for them with the lantern for another quarter of a mile up the water,
till she stopped, and saying, "Now, my dears, we'm home," lifted Elsie
from her saddle and carried her under a low doorway, and then coming
back, called Dick in also, leaving the ponies in charge of the idiot.

CHAPTER IX

It was but a very little house in which the children found themselves;
and it took some time for them to make it out, for there was no light
but that of a feeble rushlight in a horn lantern, and the faint glow of
a peat fire. But after a while they perceived that it was built of
sods of turf and lined with heather, neatly fixed into the turf by
wooden pegs such as gardeners use; while the ceiling was also of
heather, laid crosswise against ashen poles. The fire-place seemed to
be built of round stones, evidently taken from a stream, which were
plastered together with clay; and the chimney was carried outside the
wall. Across the chimney was fixed an iron bar, from which hung a rude
chain that appeared to have been made of old horse-shoes, and at the
end of the chain was an iron pot. The only furniture was a low table
of turf, which was built in the middle of the floor, and a couple of
three-legged stools; and besides the iron pot on the fire, a
frying-pan, a jug or two, a couple of wooden bowls and as many
platters, there was hardly a vessel or a plate to be seen. The house,
though of but one room, had one portion of it shut off by a low screen
made of ash-poles and heather; and a similar screen lying against the
wall appeared to take the place of a front door, when a front door was
needed.

Little Elsie was so tired that she sank down at once on the low table
of turf, and Dick staggered in, very stiff from long riding, and sat
down by her side. But the old woman bustled into the room b