The last exclamation was called from Theodore, as Jack gave a piercing scream on suddenly finding himself almost knee deep in mud. Fortunate was ft for him that his stepbrother held his hand, or otherwise he would certainly have brought his short career to a close that night in a Dartmoor bog. As it was, Theodore, as soon as he realised what was happening, tightened his hold on Jack, and with a mighty effort succeeded in pulling him safely on firmer ground. The two boys clung together in the darkness, whilst the misleading light still flickered in the distance, now disappearing altogether, now shining brighter than before.
"Hi, hi!" shouted Theodore once more.
"Oh, Theo," Jack said, with a shiver of horror, "I don't believe it's a man with a lantern after all!"
"But what is it, Jack?" Theodore asked in bewilderment "There it is again!"
"It must be a will-o'-the-wisp! Don't you know what that is? Mother told me; but I never thought I should see one!"
"I don't understand! What is a will-o'-the-wisp? It's a real light, I'm sure! Oh, Jack, you don't think we're pixie-led, do you?" And Theodore, who had been hearing tales of pixies and their elfish tricks from Mrs. Fry, who was fond of discoursing on moorland folk-lore, gave a superstitious shudder.
"No, no! It's a real light which comes over marshy ground! Mother said that people have often followed will-o'-the-wisps into bogs. Oh, Theo, I think that's what we've been doing! Supposing you hadn't been holding my hand just now, the bog would have sucked me in, and I should never have been found. Oh, I wish we could get away from this dreadful, dreadful place! Look, there are two lights! Oh, they must be will-o'-the-wisps!"
It was perfectly true. A second light had appeared, but the boys had no intention of following either now. Even in his terror, Theodore was lost in amazement of the will-o'-the-wisps; but he realised that they had made a great mistake in leaving the higher ground. Very slowly and cautiously they retraced their footsteps, as they thought, but actually they were moving in quite another direction. All at once a sound broke upon their ears, which sent a thrill of hope through each wildly beating heart. It was the cackling of a fowl, evidently disturbed in its sleep by the sound of voices close at hand.
"We must be near a house," Jack breathed in tones of relief, "Oh, how thankful I am!"
Groping their way in the darkness they discovered a hedge, and presently found a small gate, through which they passed into a kitchen-garden, in one corner of which was a little white-washed cottage, with a fowl-house adjoining.