The weather broke that year in the middle of the hay-harvest, and Hardcastle, riding with Causleen to see what the past night’s rain had done with the biggest of the upland meadows, knew that his men could not get busy with it yet, though the sun shone hot from a quiet and fleecy sky.
So they gave themselves a holiday, and rode by many a heather lane till they came at last to the moor-crest guarded by Pengables’ rocks.
A soft wind blew. Over the striding fells shadow and sunlight chased each other like big children let loose for play. They looked across to Weathersett, grim even in this tender summer-time. And presently, against their will, they glanced down at the hollow where Garsykes once had stood.
The sunlight was merciless with the foul, unkempt horror of this dead village that festered in its grave. The ravens and the crows had taken their toll long since of what lay in the street, and had gone to richer hunting-grounds. No sound came from the fire-swept, broken walls that leaned against each other like drunkards tottering in a wild embrace.
It was Causleen who broke the silence. “It will lie like that for ever, Dick,” she said, with a shudder. “They call it the plague-pit already, and none dare enter.”
Hardcastle roused himself from some harsh unrest. There was an end of Garsykes, that had troubled Logie-side for centuries out of mind. Yet he was not content.
“I planned to take our Logie Men, and make an end,” he answered moodily. “There was the night when Murgatroyd found us snow-bound in the hut. If only for taking your name on their filthy tongues, I wish it had been mine to kill and burn.”
“You must not—Dick, you must not think of it,” she pleaded, her voice awed and shaken. “Is it not enough—all that lies there? And you are safe.”
Still in a black mood, his glance wandered to the hollow of the fells where Nita’s cottage sent up a tranquil stream of smoke.
“She survives,” he said grimly. “When first the rumour spread that she had taken the plague and come through it, I fancied they had seen a ghost. Few take it and live on.”