"Don't worry about me, Jenny - I'll be careful and look after myself, but thanks all the same. Cheerio, David! Why do you have twins that are always getting lost?" And then she turned up the hill towards the black rocks of the Devil's Chair looming terrific over the lonely valley. In a very few minutes the others were out of sight and, as she plodded on beside the stream, she felt the loneliness even more strongly than when she and Jenny had heard the rushing of the cable car in the mist. Peter was a sensible girl and she was used to the solitude of the hills, but there was really something about the Stiperstones and Black Dingle that made her feel uncomfortable and lonely. Really she would have liked to have gone back to Seven Gates with the others, but she did realize that David's suggestion was sensible, and not for anything would she have failed him when he had asked her to do something.

The path climbed steeply and the loose stones were a nuisance. The stream, smaller now that it was nearer its source, was soon left behind. A few more steps and she reached the plateau at the top of the valley. Above her, the black rocks of the Chair seemed to burst out of the ground and tower dominatingly over all. Both to her left and right the path stretched along the ridge of the mountain, and she could see for miles in every direction. As David had said, the whole Dingle was now below her. She could see that other wild valleys like Black Dingle swung away from the mountain's ridge, and suddenly she realized that if the twins were hurt or even wandering about this countryside, it would be impossible to find them without several skilled search parties.

All was uncannily still, so she sat down with her back to the rocks. Then she must have dozed a little, because afterwards, when she tried to remember, she was not sure how many times Macbeth had growled and whimpered, or whether she really did hear the sound of distant shouting, and once the dull thud of a faraway explosion. She began to think of all the tales and mysteries she had heard about the Chair. She was just wondering whether she was falling under the uncanny influence of the place herself when Macbeth barked sharply and warningly again and again.