THE LONELY HERDSMAN

The sun was already dipping toward the west when they finished
the last crumb of their bread and cheese, washed it down with a
drink from the mountain stream, and started once more on their
journey. They followed the path without much difficulty, for it
had been trampled by the feet of many cattle that morning, and at
the end of an hour had covered several miles without meeting a
person or finding any sign of human habitation The way grew
wilder and wilder and wound slowly upward.

"It's going to be dark pretty soon," said Leneli at last, trying
hard to conceal the tremble in her voice, "and we are going up
instead of down. Seppi, do you suppose there are any bears and
wolves about here?"

"Maybe," said Seppi, and there was a little catch in his throat,
too. "But then," he added, trying hard to look on the bright side
of things, "if there are, they'd be much more likely to eat the
goats. I don't believe they care much about eating people."

"Well, anyway, if they do," quavered Leneli, "I hope they'll
begin with Nanni."

The afternoon waned; the shadows grew longer and longer, and they
wire just making up their minds that they must soon lie down
among the goats beside the trail and wait for morning, when a
turn in the path brought them out on a spur of the mountain where
they could look for miles across a deep valley towards the west.