d never seen in
all their journeys. It ran due east and west, from the rising to the
setting sun; but far to the eastward, a mist, like the smoke of
congregated houses, shut out the view; and on the west, a fog more
dense than that of autumn or mid-winter closed the prospect. The space
between was thronged with travellers, who emerged from the eastern
mist, and were manifestly going to the other.

A light shone on them, but it was gray and uncertain, like that of
twilight. Sometimes the sun, sometimes the stars shone through, and
strange clouds and meteors passed across the sky.

'What way is this,' thought the brothers, 'which lies so near our own
dwelling, and yet has neither night nor day?' But as their eyes grew
accustomed to the light, they perceived that the travellers on that
road were of all ages--man, woman, and child. Yet each journeyed in a
track cut for himself in the soil, from which it appeared none could
stray. Some of these tracks were wide, and others narrow; some had
numerous windings, and some were but slightly curved; many were rough
and stony, others of the bare earth, with brambles growing thick at
their edges; and some were half covered with grass and wild-flowers.
Christopher and Hubert, however, observed that none of them were
perfectly smooth or straight; that dust and rubbish were plentiful in
them all; and that every track on that highway crossed some other. The
travellers, too, differed wonderfully in their manner of journeying.
Some moved like mourners at a funeral; some like runners to a goal.
There were those who went steadily forward, with the pace of soldiers
on a march; others, who seemed in great fear, looking perpetually
behind or before them; and very few who walked at their ease.

As the brothers marvelled at this diversity, they discovered that
there was none of all the travellers without a burden, and in that
matter there appeared no less variety. Bundles of every shape and size
were on their shoulders: some looked huge, and were tied up in
sackcloth; others were covered with rich cloth, and bound with silken
cords. Some bore theirs concealed under long mantles; but Christopher
thought it was mostly weights of iron or lead they carried. Further
particulars astonished the brothers still more. The greater part
appeared to have a strange propensity for increasing the difficulties
of their way, by walking in whatever manner was least practicable.
Many augmented the burdens, under