第一卷 1-02

2 - Humanity Appears upon the Scene, Hand in Hand with Trouble

Along the road walked an old man.

He was white-headed as a mountain, bowed in the shoulders, and faded in general aspect.

He wore a glazed hat, an ancient boat-cloak, and shoes; his brass buttons bearing an anchor upon their face.

In his hand was a silver-headed walking stick, which he used as a veritable third leg, perseveringly dotting the ground with its point at every few inches' interval.

One would have said that he had been, in his day, a naval officer of some sort or other.

Before him stretched the long, laborious road, dry, empty, and white.

It was quite open to the heath on each side, and bisected that vast dark surface like the parting-line on a head of black hair, diminishing and bending away on the furthest horizon.

The old man frequently stretched his eyes ahead to gaze over the tract that he had yet to traverse.

At length he discerned, a long distance in front of him, a moving spot, which appeared to be a vehicle, and it proved to be going the same way as that in which he himself was journeying.