Then they ran out to see the idiot saddle the ponies, with which he was
already as friendly as if he had known them all his life. All animals
seemed to take to him, for he had pets without end. The two
nanny-goats and the little hind followed him like dogs; the squirrel
was always in his pocket or on his shoulder; and a jackdaw and a
magpie, both of them pinioned, fluttered after him wherever he went,
chattering and scolding as though the place belonged to them. Then the
children mounted their ponies and off they started, the idiot leading
the way on his own ragged pony, which he rode barebacked and with a
halter only for bridle; Dick came next, and then Elsie with the old
woman walking by her side. The mist was as thick as ever, but this
seemed to make no difference to the idiot, as he guided them up the
stream for a little distance and on over the rough yellow grass. The
ground was very deep and much cut by tiny clefts that carried the water
away from the bog, but the idiot went on straight and unconcerned as
though he were on a high road, though often his pony floundered
hock-deep. So on they went for a full hour with the mist whirling
about them, the children being kept warm in spite of the bitter cold
air, by their excitement, and by the constant scrambling of the ponies.
At last they reached firmer soil, but after travelling over it for a
little way the idiot stopped and held up his hand; and the children
listening with all their ears thought they made out the faint sound of
a horn. At a sign from his mother the idiot turned, and presently the
children found themselves going down hill and realised that the mist
was not so thick about them. A little further on they reached the edge
of a wood, where the idiot led his pony into a hollow and hobbled it,
and guided them into the trees on foot.

It was not pleasant riding now, for the ground was very steep, and the
trees very thick and low; and when after long scrambling down they came
to a stream at the bottom of the hill, the children found no better
path than a very rough track by the water, full of great boulders, over
which the ponies stumbled continually. Presently they crossed the
water, and then for the first time the children perceived that the
woman was no longer with them, though where she had left them they
could not tell. Still the idiot guided them on through the woods,
uphill and down and across more than one stream, till at last he led
them in