to change from his fear of again falling in with
her,--brought him into direct opposition to it. To these disheartening
and bewildering circumstances of his present situation were added those
of previous exhaustion, cold, hunger, and anxiety in regard to the
probable construction of the share he had borne, as a passive
spectator, in the events of the day; having, however unintentionally,
become a party in the eye of the law to the attack on the revenue
officers--and possibly, as he feared, to that upon the police officers
at Ap Gauvon. Under all these circumstances of distress however he
continued to make way; but more and more slowly: and at length, whilst
cowring his head before the blinding drift of the snow, he plunged
unawares into a peat trench. He found himself up to the shoulders in
water; and with some difficulty crawled out on the opposite bank. This,
which under other circumstances might have been regarded as a
misfortune, now turned out a very serviceable event: for the sudden
shock of this cold bath not only communicated a stimulus to the
drooping powers of his frame, and liberated him from the sleepy torpor
which had been latterly stealing over him,--but, by urging him to run
as vigorously as he could in order to shake off the extreme chill which
now seized him, tended still more to restore the action of his animal
powers. A reviving hope too had suddenly sprung up that this might be
the peat trench to which the directions of Nicholas referred: and he
ran with alacrity and chearfulness. In this course however he was all
at once arrested by a violent blow on his temples. Raising his head,
which he still carried slanting against the wind, to his sudden joy he
discovered in the cause of this rude shock a most welcome indication of
approach to some beaten road, and probably to the dwellings of men. It
was a lofty pole, such as is ordinarily erected upon moorish or
mountainous tracts against the accidents of deep snow. Bertram's hopes
were realized. At a little distance he found a second pole, then a
third, and a fourth, &c. until at length he dropped down upon a little
cluster of cottages. He saw indeed neither house, nor tree, nor hedge
before him: for even a whole village at such a time--its low roofs all
white with snow--would not have been distinguishable: but he heard the
bleating of sheep. Seldom had his heart throbbed with such a sudden
thrill of gladness as at this sound. With hurried steps he advanced,