[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Rubbing his eyes, he went to the window.Outside the weather had changed again.The light drizzle of the forenoon had been replaced by a thick fog.He could scarcely see the tops of the trees in the kitchen garden, a faint tangle of dark lines bedewed with water droplets.The first floor of the house was cold and silent.He thought of going down to the servants' quarters, then changed his mind and went through to the study.The log fire there had been banked high by one of the maids.He picked up Anna's note from the table, and went to read it by the fireside.At the first words, his concern for Darwin and Pole was overwhelmed by fear for Anna's safety.In winter, in a dense Cumbrian fog, Cross Fell could be a death-trap unless a man knew every inch of its sudden slopes and treacherous, shifting screes.Thaxton put on his warmest clothing and hurried out into the gathering darkness.In this weather, the safest way up to the fell would be from the north, where the paths were wider—but the southern approach, although steeper and more treacherous, was a good deal more direct.He hesitated, then began to climb the southern slope, moving at top speed on the rough path that had been worn over the years by men and animals.On all sides, the world ended five yards from him in a wall of mist.The wind had dropped completely, and he felt like a man climbing forever in a small, silent bowl of gray fog.After ten minutes, he was forced to stop and catch his breath.He looked around.The folly of his actions was suddenly clear to him.He should now be on his way to Milburn, to organize a full-scale search party, rather than scrambling over Cross Fell, alone and unprepared.Should he turn now, and go back down? That would surely be the wiser course.His thoughts were interrupted by a low, fluting whistle, sounding through the fog.It seemed to come from his left, and a good distance below him.The mist made distance and direction difficult to judge.He held his breath and stood motionless, listening intently.After a few seconds it came again, a breathy call that the fog swallowed up without an echo.Leaving the path, he moved down and to the left, stumbling over the sodden tussocks of grass and clumps of heather, and peering ahead into the darkness.Twice, he almost fell, and finally he stopped again.It was no good, he could not negotiate the side of Cross Fell in the darkness and mist.Exploration would have to wait until conditions were better, despite his desperate anxiety.The only thing to do now was to return to the house.He would rest there as best he could, and be fit for another ascent, with assistance, when weather and light permitted it.Whatever had happened to Anna, it would not help her if he were to suffer injury now, up on the Fell.He began a cautious descent.At last he saw the light in the upper bedroom of the house shining faintly through the mist below him.Down at ground level, on the left side of the house, he fancied that he could see a group of dim lights, moving in the kitchen garden.That was surprising.He halted, and peered again through the darkness.While he watched, another low whistle behind him was answered, close to the house.The lights grew dimmer.He was gripped by a sudden, unreasoning fear.Heedless of possible falls, he began to plunge full-tilt down the hillside.The house and garden seemed quiet and normal, the grounds empty.He made his way into the kitchen garden, where he had seen the moving lights.It too seemed deserted, but along the wall of the house he could dimly see three oblong mounds.He walked over to them, and was suddenly close enough to see them clearly.He gasped.Side by side, bound firmly to rough stretchers of wood and leather, lay the bodies of Darwin, Pole and Anna, all well wrapped in sheepskins.Anna's cold forehead was heavily bandaged, with a strip torn from her linen blouse.Thaxton dropped to his knee and put his ear to her chest, full of foreboding.Before he could hear the heartbeat, he heard Darwin's voice behind him."We're here, are we?" it said."About time, too.I must have dropped off to sleep again.Now, Richard, give me a hand to undo myself, will you.I'm better off than Anna and Jacob, but we're all as sick as dogs.Myself, I don't seem to have the strength of a gnat."* * *"What a sight.Reminds me of the field hospital after a Pathan skirmish." Jacob Pole looked round him with gloomy satisfaction.The study at Heartsease had been converted into a temporary sick-room, and Darwin, Anna Thaxton and Pole himself were all sitting in armchairs by the fire, swaddled in blankets.Richard Thaxton stood facing them, leaning on the mantelpiece [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]