sed to ride a pony which Lady Eleanor offered to her, and
insisted on starting off by herself, appointing a place in a valley by
the edge of the moor where she promised to meet them without fail. And
with that she strode away across the park, while Lady Eleanor ordered
her horse and ran to put on her habit.

The horses were soon ready, and Colonel George and Lady Eleanor started
off; but it was only by a long circuit that they could ride to the
appointed spot on horseback, and when they reached it the woman was
already there before them. She then led them by a very rough path,
which was unknown to Colonel George, to the very head of a deep combe,
where the oak coppice grew thinner and thinner until at last it died
out in the open moor. Among these thin trees was a rough Exmoor pony,
hobbled, which the woman caught and mounted, and then led the way
straight on over the hill.

"I don't understand this," said Colonel George to Lady Eleanor, "I have
always been told that the ground before us was impassable. It is the
bog in which most of the rivers in the moor rise. I have crossed it a
mile east and west of this after deer, and the ground is bad enough
there; but I had no idea that it could be crossed here."

"No," said the woman, who had evidently overheard him, "the deer don't
never cross here, but I know my way across well enough."

These were the only words that she spoke during the ride, except now
and again to bid her companions keep to right or left, for presently
they were on the treacherous ground across which she had guided the
children, and the horses sank deeper in it than the ponies. With all
his knowledge and experience of the moor the colonel found it difficult
to pick his way, and Lady Eleanor's horse floundered so deep that she
was once or twice obliged to dismount before he could get out. Still
the woman led them on until at last the worst of the ground was past,
though the horses still sank at least fetlock-deep at every step. The
watershed was left behind and the ground began to fall rapidly, though
it was so heavily seamed by a network of deep drains dug by the water
through the turf, that without a guide any one would have found it
almost impossible to find a way out. Colonel George watched carefully
for landmarks as he went on, and looked out keenly for the hut, but
could see nothing. Once or twice the woman smiled grimly as she saw
his eyes roving in every direction, and the colonel smil