So they followed the track which crossed and recrossed the little stream, but the valley did not change its character much. The sides of the gorge on their right were almost precipitous, and although the lower slopes were covered sparsely with heather and a few stunted hawthorns, the ground was too rocky for turf or flowers. As they climbed, the Dingle widened, and the cliff face on the left, although very high, seemed strangely pitted and marked.

Peter asked the meaning.

"Those are the entrances to the old mines, I believe," said Jenny. "Or they are caves. I'm not sure which. Dad told me that just before I was born those mines over there were worked, but I've never been up to explore. Shall we go one day? There's some of the old miners' cottages at the foot of the cliff - they're all in ruins now and full of bit-bats and owls... But it's just about here that my adventure began. Would you like to hear it now?"

Peter agreed that she would, and listened attentively.

"Well, Peter," Jenny was saying. "I hadn't been up here for ages, but one afternoon 'bout six weeks ago, when it got dark early, I came with George Campling, who said he knew of a magpie's nest. We came up this way and then he couldn't find the tree and we forgot the time and almost before we knew, it was getting dark... Now, Peter, what I'm going to tell is true 'cos we know about the Black Riders. If you know history you know about Wild Edric and Godda. And you know too that Edric is buried under this mountain waiting for the world's end, but sometimes he hunts at night, and if you see him then something awful happens..."

Jenny's voice died away and Peter turned to look at her. She was really frightened! Her face, with its halo of red hair and its big freckles, was very white and she passed her tongue over her lips while Peter slipped an arm through hers and said gently enough:

"Go on, Jenny. I'm not laughing at you."

Suddenly Peter remembered what old Henry had told her this very morning about a girl in Barton Beach who had seen the ghostly hunt.

"Jenny!" she gasped. "You didn't see the Riders, did you? You weren't the girl who saw them, were you?"

Jenny nodded. "I was... Oh! Peter. I've been scared to come here again and I thought if I came with you I'd be brave because you're so brave. But I'm not feeling very brave and it was about here it happened."