The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1869-08-10 00:00:00

Littraturt.

THE CHILL IN TILZ SHADOW.

The storm vas no less severe on land than on ow
The mine wild enfranchisement of the elements had
taken ',bine around tha abandoned child.
On the land there was but little wind. There was
an inexiiherible dunahnem in the sold. There were
no hailstones. The thickness of the falling snow was
I ea rf nl.

The 'child aoatinaed to advance into the mist. The
child, stung r wreatlor at war with all those risks, bed
succeed in r Niching the bottom of the descent and had
gained Chesil. Without knowing it be was on an
isthinua, el th the ocean on each Id.; ao that he could
not liso hits way in the fog, in the meow, not in the
darkness, eithout falling into the deep waters of the
gulf, iii th e right hand, or into the razing billow, of
the Ugh •ea ou the left. Ito wastravelling on, as %no-
minee, be owean these two abysms.
The Is. Allow of Portland was at this period angularly
an rugged. Nothing remains at this date of it.
lasi lots intimation. Since the Idea of manufacturing
Portia& I stone into Roman cement," wee Ilret ecisad,
the wit i de rock has been subjected to an alteration,
which ' Sal completely change.. its original appearance.
"dem aow Wu, al•te, and trap, are still to le found
there, rising from layers of amiglonterate, like teeth out
of •gi tin; bat the pickaxe la, Molten up arid levelled
thou I riathog, rugged peaks. which sere or.oe the fear-
ful pi,e :hes of the osprey. The sirrinits exist no longer,
who., the labbes and the altua gala used to nook
tognth Cr, soaring, like the envious, $0 .0 ily high piece'.
lu raj a alight you peek the tall inuudi th called llodoli
phis, an old Gallic word, signifying " white eagle." In
Comm Cr you may still gather, in thiew surface., pierced
end p erforated, like, eponge, ro' Pennyroyal,
loyeaop, and ase.fonnol, beim infused, women
• g oad cordial, and that herb fii.l of kmte, which grows
in tho sand, and from which .hey anus mailing; but
ir on no longer Bad grey aml..er, or bLek tin, or that
.riple epodes of alate—om. sort green, one blue, and
the third the colour of sageleaven The (oxen the
badgera, the ot sees, and 'the im_rtens, have taken them.
selves nfr ; on Ihe ciao of Portland, am well as at the
extremity of C Drawl!, where there were chamois, 0000
rornain. 'I hey still ln.h Its nonce inlet, for plaice and
pilchards ; but the sawed aalmon no longer amends the
Wey, between Illishaelmas and Christman to spawn.
No more are sleet there, as during the reign of
Elizabeth, thee • Odd unknown birds as large se haw,
who could cut on 'apple Into two parte, bit ate only the
pies. You ne es meet thole crows with yellow lean
cello' Cornish dioughs in English, pi/rewires In Latin,
who in their mischief, would drop burning twigs on
thatched roof t. Nor le visible now that magic bird,
the fulmar, • wanderer from the Sciotial archipelago,
dropping froi a hia bill an oil whieh the Wandern used
to barn in tb eir lamps. Nor do you end in the evening,
in tbe splash of the ebbing tide, that aocient, legendary
suites, with the feet of a hog, and the bleat of • calf.
The thin no longer throws up the whiskered seal, with
I" curled e ire and Amp jowl, dragging itself Jong on
Its ilsillese paws. On that Portland—now-a-days so
e' scarcely to be recognised—the absence of
forest. pr *laded nightingale.; but now the falcon, the
I°oo. 004 the wild goose have fled. The sheep of
Portions' ~ at present, are fat and have An. wool • the
few 000' tered ewes which nibbled the salt ChM ;here
two ea. Jtlifiel ago were small and tough, and coarse in
Abe u beemne Celtic docks brought there by
garlic- eat tog shepherds, who live to a hundred, mid
who, at the distance of half a mile could pierces
fair us with their yard-long urows. Uncultivated
land ma keg coarse wool The Chesil of to-day re.
terabit.. in no plummier the Chesil of the past, so mush
has it t con disturbed by men, and by thou furious
wind* • ehich gnaw the very stones.
At resent this tongue of laud boars • railway, tar.
miner .ng in • pretty square of new houses, called
Olen' ten, and there is • Portland altatioa. Railway
carve gcs roll where seals used to creel
Tf s lathmus of Portland two hundred years ago was
AV aa'a back of send, with a vertebral spine of rook. ,
T Ito child's danger ganged Its form, What be bad '
Is.. I to fear in the dement wee falling down to the
be ttoin of the precupiee; in the isthmus, it WY falling
in to the holes.

Broad daylight might hero aided him. It was night.
la guide was nereeemry. He WWI aloha ; all the •leour
of manhood would sot have been too mach. He had
but the feeble streagth of • child. In default of •
guide, a footpath might have aided bias ; there wail
Done.

Ile went round the rocks, *voided the erevims,
guenot at the patella, obeyed the twisting. nod turn-
ings /MUNI by nub obstacle.; yet he went OIL
At the end of minewbat less than ball an hour, he
felt that the greand was rising. Ile bad reashed the
other shore. Gavin, Chesil. he had gainadtenafirins.
The bridge which now unites Sandifoot Castle with
Smallmouth Saw La did not then exist. It is probable
that in his intelligent groping be bad re-ascended as
far as Wyk. Regis, where there was then • tongue of
sand, •natursl road onisaing East Fleet.
Ho was sawed from the isthmus ; but ha found him-
self face to Goa with the tempest, with the sold, with
the night.
_

Before him once more lay the plain, ghat-islets In the
density of impunetreble shadow. He looked on the
ground, seeking • footpath, Suddenly he Dent dowo.
He had dtsoovered, in the .no, something which
seemed to him • track.

It wag indeed • truk- —the print of a foot. The
print wu out out cleanly in the whiteout of the snow,
which rendroed it dl.ticctly vioible. He considered it.
It wadi • II six. al loot; too small to be that of • man, too
large to b, that of • child.
It was probably the foot of • woman. Beyond that
mark Iva another, then another, then another. The
footpri cts followed each other at the distanee of • step,
and ir truck across the plain to the right. They were
resh, and slightly covered with snow. A WOO=
bad just passed that way.
woman was walking in the direction where the
child bad oven the smoke. With his eyes fixed on the
footprints, be set himself to follow them.
He journeyed some time along this course. Unfor-
tunately the footprints were becoming less and he..
viaible. Dense and fearful was the falling of the snow.
Suddenly, whether the snow had ailed than uO, or
for some other reason, the footsteps °eased. AU be-
came even, level, smooth, without • stain, without •
detaiL There was now nothing bat • white sloth
drawn over the earth, and • black one over the sky. It
seemed se if the foot-passenger had flown away. Ti.
child, in despair, bent down and searched; but in
vain. . . . .

An he arose he had a sensation of hearing some in.
di.tinot sound, but which he Gould not be sure that be
beard. It resembled a voice, • breath • shadow. It
was more human than animal; more sepulchral than
living. It was a sound, but the sound of a dream.
He 10 died, but saw nothing.
large, naked, and livid, was before him.
He listened. That which be bad thought be heard
existed ix, longer. Perhaps it had been but fancy. He
mill listened. All was silent.
There was illusion is that fog. . .

He went on his 'PSI again. He walked forward
at random, with nothing thenceforth to guide him.
As he moved away the India recommenced. This
tlme ho could doubt no longer. It was • groan, almost
• soh.
He turned. He marched the darkness of space with
him eyes. He law nothing. The sound arose once
more If limbo could cry out it would cry in such a
too t .
Nothing Gould have been so penetrating, so piercing,
en feeble as this yelps —for it was a voice. It arose
treat a souL There was palpitation in this murmur.
Novertbelees, it seemed uttered almost unconsciously.
It was a volse of suffering, not knowing that it suffered
or that it appealed.
This cry—perhaps a ars* breath, perhaps a last sigh
- was equally distaat from the rattle which °loess life,
and the wail with whisks it sonimucia. This breathed,
It was stifled; it wept. It was a gloomy supplication
from the invisible. The child fixed his attention every-
where, mu, neat In the depths, on high, below. Theis
was no one. Tilers was nothing. Hs listened. The
you's made itself beard solo He perceived it dim-
kinotly. 'The sound somewhat resembled the bleating
of • lamb.
Then be was frightened, and thought of flight.
The groan again. This was the fourth time. It was
strangely miserable and plaintive. One felt that after
that tut off 'rt., more inechuical than voluntary, the
cry would probably be eatinanislud.
It was an expiring exclamation, instinctively appeal-
ing to the amount of aid held in suspense in space. It
was some muttering of agony addressed to a possible
Providence.
The child approached in the direction from *banes
the gonad cams
Still be saw nothing.
He advanced again watchfully.
The complaint continued. However inarticulate and
confused it might be, it had besome 134111. almost
vihraidng. The child wax near the voice; but where
was it?
He was close to the murmur. The trembling of • cry
pawed by his side ioto space. A human moaa floated
sway into the darkest.. This was what he had coot
This at least was his impression, dim as the dense mist
In which he was loot.
While he hesitated between an Instinct whioh urged
Limito fly, and an instinct which eoimminded bins to
remain, he perceived in the snow at his feet, a few
slaps before hint, • sort of undulation of the dimension.
of • human body—a small eminent., low, long. and
narrow. like the mould over • grave—like a sepulchre
in a whit* churchyard.
At the mime time a voice dried out. It was from
there, beneath, that it proceeded. The child bent
down, crouching before the unduiatioa, and with his
two hand. began to clear it away.
Beneath the snow which be removed a form grew
under his beside; and suddenly in the hollow its had
med. •Mwated a pale face.
The cry had not proceeded from this facie. Her eyes
were shut, soul the mouth open, but fall of snow.
fib. reineincel inotionlou ; she stirred not under the
hands of the child. The child, whose flute" were
numb with frost, shuddered when he touched the ulti-
mo' of that face. ilur dishevelled hair was mingled
with the APOIII. The woman was dead.
Avila the child set himself to sweep away the snow.
The neck of the dead woman was uncovered: then her
shoulders mid their flh appeared tinder her rage.
!Suddenly he felt something move feebly under his
touch, It was eemethinit small that was buried, and
which stirred. The child swiftly cleared away the
snow, discovering • wretched body of a child—thin.
wan with cold, still alive, and Laid on the dead
wohan's naked breast.
It wes a little girl.
It had been swaddled tip, but in rigs so scanty that
in itniananike It had freed itself from Its tatters. Under
It its attenuated limits, and above it Its breath, had
A nurse would have said
melted the snow.
t▪
hat it was five or six months old, but perhaps it might
he a year, for growth. ml poverty, suffere.hurtare val7,:ng
reductions, which sometimes produce /16101ta
It. fess was exposed to the air, she pee a cry;
continuation of her sobs of distress. For the mother
not to have heard that mob proved her to be irrevocably
dead.
The child took the infant in his arms. The stiffened
body of the mother was • fearful sight i • 11•••tna
light proceeded from her facia The month Val* and
without breath, seemed to form in the indistinct
language of shadows the answer to the quasti as put to
the dead he the invisible. The ghastly retlsetion of

lb. h. suriale...llo.