It is the place and time for dark deeds, for the heart grows savage; and if two enemies met in the hollow of the mist only one would go away.
I climbed the hill above the Howe burn-head, keeping the wind on my right cheek as the girl had ordered.

That took me along a rough ridge of mountain pitted with peat-bogs into which I often stumbled.

Every minute I expected to descend and find the young Water of Leith, but if I held to my directions I must still mount.

I see now that the wind must have veered to the south-east, and that my plan was leading me into the fastnesses of the hills; but I would have wandered for weeks sooner than disobey the word of the girl who sang in the rain.
Presently I was on a steep hill-side, which I ascended only to drop through a tangle of screes and jumper to the mires of a great bog.

When I had crossed this more by luck than good guidance, I had another scramble on the steeps where the long, tough heather clogged my footsteps.
About eight o'clock I awoke to the conviction that I was hopelessly lost, and must spend the night in the wilderness.