Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/115

89 And long and hopelessly we sought in vain.

Till, chancing by yon lofty ridge to pass

A heap of ruin, almost without walls

And wholly without roof (in ancient time

It was a Chapel, a small Edifice

In which the Peasants of these lonely Dells

For worship met upon that central height)—

Chancing to pass this wreck of stones, we there

Espied at last the Object of our search,

Couched in a nook, and seemingly alive.

It would have moved you, had you seen the guise

In which he occupied his chosen bed,

Lying full three parts buried among tufts

Of heath-plant, under and above him strewn,

To baffle, as he might, the watery storm:

And there we found him breathing peaceably,

Snug as a Child that hides itself in sport

Mid a green hay-cock in a sunny field.

We spake—he made reply, but would not stir

At our entreaty; less from want of power

Than apprehension and bewildering thoughts.

So was he lifted gently from the ground,

And with their freight the Shepherds homeward moved