In the lulls, between the fierce
blasts, I could hear the trickle of the water in the rivulets deep down
in the springy cushion of heather. A few nimble sheep would stare at me
from a distance, and then disappear, or some grouse might hover over a
piece of rising ground; but otherwise there were no signs of living
creatures. Nearing Kildale, the road suddenly plunged downwards to a
stream flowing through a green, cultivated valley, with a lonely farm on
the further slope. There was a fir-wood above this, and as I passed over
the hill, among the tall, bare stems, the clouds parted a little in the
west, and let a flood of golden light into the wood. Instantly the gloom
seemed to disappear, and beyond the dark shoulder of moorland, where the
Cook monument appeared against the glory of the sunset, there seemed to
reign an all-pervading peace, the wood being quite silent, for the wind
had dropped.

The rough track through the trees descended hurriedly, and soon gave a
wide view over Kildale. The valley was full of colour from the glowing
west, and the steep hillsides opposite appeared lighter than the indigo
clouds above, now slightly tinged with purple. The little village of
Kildale nestled down below, its church half buried in yellow foliage.

The railway comes through Eskdale from Whitby to Stockton-on-Tees, and
thus gives the formerly remote valley easy communication with the
outside world. It is dangerous, however, not to allow an ample margin
for catching the trains, for there are only two or three in each
direction in the autumn and winter, and a gap of about four hours
generally separates the trains. I had been a long ramble over the moors
on the north side of Eskdale, and had allowed the sun to set while I was
still drawing on the top of Danby Beacon. But, having a good map with
me, I was quite confident of finding the road to Lealholm without
difficulty, as the distance was only a very few miles.

The crimson globe in the west disappeared behind the dark horizon over
the two Fryup valleys, and left the world in twilight. But it would not
be dark for an hour, and except for mistaking the sheep for boulders and
boulders for sheep, and being consequently surprised when what I had
imagined was a mass of gray stone suddenly disappeared on my approach,
nothing unusual happened. I had no fear of losing my way, but what my
map had led me to believe would be a plain road was a mere track in the
heather, and at times it b