Then he realized that he must find out where he was.
"He glanced down and saw that he was riding over a soft marsh, where
there was no beaten path. The horse trotted along at a brisk pace and
showed no uncertainty. Again the dean was positive that he was going in
the wrong direction, and now he did not hesitate to interfere. He seized
the reins and turned the horse about, guiding him back to the roadway.
No sooner was he there than he turned again and made straight for the
woods.
"The dean was certain that he was going wrong, but because the beast was
so persistent he thought that probably he was trying to find a better
road, and let him go along.
"The horse did very well, although he had no path to follow. If a
precipice obstructed his way, he climbed it as nimbly as a goat, and
later, when they had to descend, he bunched his hoofs and slid down the
rocky inclines.
"'May he only find his way home before church hour!' thought the dean.
'I wonder how the Delsbo folk would take it if I were not at my church
on time?'
"He did not have to brood over this long, for soon he came to a place
that was familiar to him. It was a little creek where he had fished the
summer before. Now he saw it was as he had feared--he was in the depths
of the forest, and the horse was plodding along in a south-easterly
direction.
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