Hans of Iceland, Volume 2 by Victor Hugo — Read

"Hush, hush! here comes a man climbing down a ladder. " "Oh, yes; he is a spy. " "Heaven could grant me no greater favor than to let me offer you -- my life. I am yours; but tell me, for mercy's sake, to whom does this army belong? " "To a count from Barcelona. " "What count? " "What is it? " "General, one of the enemy's spies. " "Whence come you? " "I came here, little dreaming what I should find; little thinking what I should see. " -- LOPE DE VEGA: _La Fuerza Lastimosa_

There is something desolate and forbidding in the aspect of a bare, flat region when the sun has set, when one is alone; when, as he walks, he tramples the dry grass beneath his feet, the dead brown leaves drop rustling from the trees, he hears the monotonous cry of the cricket, and sees huge, shapeless clouds sink slowly on the horizon like dead ghosts.