1. As I went along, more than one person who passed me on the way said,
"We shall have a wild night, sir, I advise you to hurry into shelter."
2. As I set foot upon the first part of the wide, open moor, where the
narrow path could hardly be seen in the twilight, a few flakes of snow
began to fall.
3. For a moment I began to wonder whether it would not be better, even
now, to turn back and stay in the town for that night.
4. But thinking that my wife and dear little girl would be both sorry
and anxious when I did not appear, I put a stout heart into the matter,
and strode boldly forward.
5. The snowflakes came down thicker and faster, my beard and the front
of my coat were quite white, the great brown moor changed first to a
grey, and then to pure dazzling white too.
6. The whirling flakes blinded me, I felt giddy from the cold. The
storm was now upon me with full fury, the wind almost lifted me from my
feet.
7. I trusted that the sudden gale would soon pass over, and folding my
arms close to my body, tried to struggle forward still. But so far from
getting better, the weather grew worse each moment.
8. With a dreadful feeling of despair, I found that I could no longer
find my way. I did not know where my home lay, nor how I must turn my
face in order to reach it. I cried to God for mercy.
9. I now felt that I had been very foolish in trying to get across the
moor on such a night. Perhaps I might never see my wife and dear child
again.
10. The bitter wind seemed to pierce through my clothes, I was fast
getting drowsy and ready to fall down. Then the snow would soon have
buried me, and no one would have seen me alive again.
11. A groan broke from my lips as I looked around at the waste of snow,
but I was at the same instant startled to hear a low, plaintive whine
close at hand.
12. I turned and saw a large, thin, starved-looking dog sitting close
behind. He gazed in a troubled way into my face, when I turned round.
It was my poor fellow of the inn door!
13. As he crept along over the snow to my feet, he seemed with the same
humble love to say, "Do not send me away, let me come with you. You are
the only person who has shown me mercy."
14. I stooped and patted him on the head. "Good dog!" I said, "have you
found me out? Come now, I wish you could show me the way home, or else
I am afraid we shall both be frozen to death."
15. He seemed to know what I meant in some strange way, and just then I
heard far off a church clock strike, which I knew must be in the town I
had left behind.
16. This was a help, for I now knew that if I turned my back on the
place from which the sound came, I should be right in keeping straight
on.
* * * * *
_Write:_ The storm grew worse. When the man had lost his way on the
moor, he saw the dog which he had fed at the inn sitting behind him.
Questions: 1. What did more than one person say as the man
began his walk? 2. As he began to cross the moor, what did
he see? 3. Did the weather grow any better? 4. What did he
see sitting close to him when he turned round? 5. What did
the dog seem to say? 6. What did the traveller hear far off?