I could no longer stay there; up I rose from the ground, and attempted to escape; at the bottom of the winding path which led up the acclivity I fell over something which was lying on the ground; the something moved, and gave a kind of whine.

It was my little horse, which had made that place its lair--my little horse, my only companion and friend, in that now awful solitude.

I reached the mouth of the dingle; the sun was just sinking in the far west, behind me; the fields were flooded with his last gleams.

How beautiful everything looked in the last gleams of the sun! I felt relieved for a moment; I was no longer in the horrid dingle; in another minute the sun was gone, and a big cloud occupied the place where he had been; in a little time it was almost as dark as it had previously been in the open part of the dingle.

My horror increased; what was I to do!--it was of no use fighting against the horror--that I saw; the more I fought against it, the stronger it became.