Protruded at long intervals
above it, stood strangely shaped and sombre-
coloured rocks, which seemed to have an under-
standing with one another and to exchange looks of
uncomfortable significance, as if they had reared
their heads to watch the issue of some foreseen event.
A few blasted trees here and there appeared as
leaders in this malevolent conspiracy of silent
expectation.
The day, I thought, must be far advanced, though
the sun was invisible; and although sensible that the
air was raw and chill my consciousness of that fact
was rather mental than physical--I had no feeling
of discomfort. Over all the dismal landscape a canopy
of low, lead-coloured clouds hung like a visible curse.
In all this there was a menace and a portent--a
hint of evil, an intimation of doom. Bird, beast, or
insect there was none. The wind sighed in the bare
branches of the dead trees and the grey grass bent
to whisper its dread secret to the earth; but no other
sound nor motion broke the awful repose of that
dismal place.
I observed in the herbage a number of weather-
worn stones, evidently shaped with tools. They were
broken, covered with moss and half sunken in the
earth. Some lay prostrate, some leaned at various
angles, none was vertical. They were obviously
headstones of graves, though the graves themselves
no longer existed as either mounds or depressions;
the years had levelled all.
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