They knew every pathway of that primeval woodland, and it mattered but little to them that most of these had been worn by the feet of wild beasts. Such tracks wind out and in, and in and out, and meet others in the most puzzling and labyrinthine manner.
Roland carried a compass, and knew how to use it, but the day was unusually fine and sunny, so there was little chance of their getting lost.
The country in which they lived might well have been called the land of perpetual summer.
But at some spots the forest was so pitchy dark, owing to the overhanging trees and wild flowering creepers, that they had to rein up and allow Coz and Boz, as their ponies were named, to cautiously feel the way for themselves.
How far away they might have ridden they could not themselves tell, had they not suddenly entered a kind of fairy glade. At one side it was bounded by a crescentic formation of rock, from the very centre of which spouted a tiny clear crystal waterfall. Beneath was a deep pool, the bottom of which was sand and yellow shingle, with here and there a patch of snow-white quartz. And away from this a little stream went meandering slowly through the glade, keeping it green.
On the other side were the lordly forest trees, bedraped with flowering orchids and ferns.
Flowers and ferns grew here and there in the rockface itself. No wonder the young folks gazed around them in delighted wonder.
Brawn was more practical. He cared nothing for the flowers, but enjoyed to the fullest extent the clear cool water of the crystal pool.
"Oh, isn't it lovely?" said Roland.
"And oh, I am so hungry, Rolly!"