w heard his clear voice far up the
heights. A few minutes more, and it rang forth again more faintly. Mr
Sudberry remarked that it sounded as if it came from the clouds: he put
his hands to his mouth sailor fashion, and replied. Then they listened
intently for the next shout. How still it was while they sat there!
What a grand, gloomy solitude! They could hear no sound but the beating
of their own hearts. Solemn thoughts of the Creator of these mighty
hills crept into their minds as they gazed around and endeavoured to
pierce the thick darkness. But this was impossible. It was one of
those nights in which the darkness was so profound that no object could
be seen even indistinctly at the distance of ten yards. Each could see
the other's form like a black marble statue, but no feature could be
traced. The mountain peaks and ridges could indeed be seen against the
dark sky, like somewhat deeper shadows; but the crags and corries, the
scattered rocks and heathery knolls, the peat-bogs and the tarns of the
wild scene which these circling peaks enclosed--all were steeped in
impenetrable gloom. There seemed something terrible, almost unnatural,
in this union of thick darkness with profound silence. Mr Sudberry was
startled by the sound of his own voice when he again spoke.

"The boy must have gone too far. I cannot hear--"

"Hush!"

"Hi!" in the far distance, like a faint echo. They all breathed more
freely, and Mr Sudberry uttered a powerful response. Presently the
shout came nearer--nearer still; and soon Fred rejoined them, with the
disheartening information that he had gained the summit of the ridge,
and could see nothing whatever!

"Well, my children," said Mr Sudberry, with an assumption of
cheerfulness which he was far from feeling, "nothing now remains but to
push straight forward as fast as we can. We _must_ come to a road of
some sort in the long-run, which will conduct to somewhere or other, no
doubt. Come, cheer up; forward! Follow close behind me, Lucy. George,
do you take the lead--you are the most active and sharp-sighted among
us; and mind the bogs."

"What if we walk right over a precipice!" thought Fred. He had almost
said it, but checked himself for fear of alarming the rest
unnecessarily. Instead of cautioning George, he quietly glided to the
front, and took the lead.

Slowly, wearily, and painfully they plodded on, stumbling at times over
a rugged and stone-covered surface, some