CHAPTER XXVIII 416
My eye still roved over the sullen swell and along the moor-edge , vanishing amidst the wildest scenery , when at one dim point , far in among the marshes and the ridges , a light sprang up . " That is an ignis fatuus ," was my first thought ; and I expected it would soon vanish . It burnt on , however , quite steadily , neither receding nor advancing . " Is it , then , a bonfire just kindled ?" I questioned . I watched to see whether it would spread : but no ; as it did not diminish , so it did not enlarge . " It may be a candle in a house ," I then conjectured ; " but if so , I can never reach it . It is much too far away : and were it within a yard of me , what would it avail ? I should but knock at the door to have it shut in my face ."
And I sank down where I stood , and hid my face against the ground . I lay still a while : the night-wind swept over the hill and over me , and died moaning in the distance ; the rain fell fast , wetting me afresh to the skin . Could I but have stiffened to the still frost -- the friendly numbness of death -- it might have pelted on ; I should not have felt it ; but my yet living flesh shuddered at its chilling influence . I rose ere long .
The light was yet there , shining dim but constant through the rain . I tried to walk again : I dragged my exhausted limbs slowly towards it . It led me aslant over the hill , through a wide bog , which would have been impassable in winter , and was splashy and shaking even now , in the height of summer . Here I fell twice ; but as often I rose and rallied my faculties . This light was my forlorn hope : I must gain it .
Having crossed the marsh , I saw a trace of white over the moor . I approached it ; it was a road or a track : it led straight up to the light , which now beamed from a sort of knoll , amidst a clump of trees -- firs , apparently , from what I could distinguish of the character of their forms and foliage through the gloom . My star vanished as I drew near : some obstacle had intervened between me and it . I put out my hand to feel the dark mass before me : I discriminated the rough stones of a low wall -- above it , something like palisades , and within , a high and prickly hedge . I groped on . Again a whitish object gleamed before me : it was a gate -- a wicket ; it moved on its hinges as I touched it . On each side stood a sable bush-holly or yew .