"No," said the shepherd.
"Weel, then, that's the only place she can have been to, that I can think of. So you two had better get back to Crua Breck and wait till daylight. I'll gang to Jack Paterson's, and if they ken nothing of Thora there, we can only wait till the morning."
The two returned to the farm, therefore, and I tramped through the storm to the croft of Clouston, past the ghostly standing stones of the Druids, and along the dreary, snow-covered road.
The cottage was in darkness, with a great drift of snow against the door. I knocked with my stick several times, and presently I heard Jack Paterson's gruff voice demanding who was there.
"It's me, Halcro Ericson. Open the door, Jack."
"Save us all!" he exclaimed, raising the bolt. "What brings ye out on a night like this, lad? Come inside."
"No; I'm seeking for Thora Kinlay; d'ye ken anything about her; she's lost!"
"Lost! No; I ken nothing o' her. But wait and I'll see the bairns."
He returned to the door in a few minutes.
"Hilda says that Thora was here yestreen," he said. "But she went away to Crua Breck when the snow came on so bad."