n the
echo of the bell's one stroke had died away it left a great stillness in
the air. The heat was increasing as the day veered towards noon, and he
decided that it would be as well to get on further down the road and
under the shadow of the trees, which were not so very far off, and which
looked invitingly cool in their spreading dark soft greenness. So,
rising from his brief rest, he started again "on the tramp," and soon
felt the full glare of the sun, and the hot sensation of the dust about
his feet; but he went on steadily, determining to make light of all the
inconveniences and difficulties, to which he was entirely unaccustomed,
but to which he had voluntarily exposed himself. For a considerable time
he met no living creature; the highroad seemed to be as much his own as
though it were part of a private park or landed estate belonging to him
only; and it was not till he had nearly accomplished the distance which
lay between him and the shelter of the trees, that he met a horse and
cart slowly jogging along towards the direction from whence he had come.
The man who drove the vehicle was half-asleep, stupefied, no doubt, by
the effect of the hot sun following on a possible "glass" at a
public-house, but Helmsley called to him just for company's sake.

"Hi! Am I going right for Watchett?"

The man opened his drowsing eyes and yawned expansively.

"Watchett? Ay! Williton comes fust."

"Is it far?"

"Nowt's far to your kind!" said the man, flicking his whip. "An' ye'll
meet a bobby or so on the road!"

On he went, and Helmsley without further parley resumed his tramp.
Presently, reaching the clump of trees he had seen in the distance, he
moved into their refreshing shade. They were broad-branched elms,
luxuriantly full of foliage, and the avenue they formed extended for
about a quarter of a mile. Cool dells and dingles of mossy green sloped
down on one side of the road, breaking into what are sometimes called
"coombs" running precipitously towards the sea-coast, and slackening his
pace a little he paused, looking through a tangle of shrubs and bracken
at the pale suggestion of a glimmer of blue which he realised was the
shining of the sunlit ocean. While he thus stood, he fancied he heard a
little plaintive whine as of an animal in pain. He listened attentively.
The sound was repeated, and, descending the shelving bank a few steps he
sought to discover the whereabouts of this piteous cry for help. All at
once