“Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is usually
remembered only as the famous creator of Sherlock Holmes, but Doyle himself
believed that his historical romances were his most important work. He felt
that detective stories were part of ‘a lower stratum of literary achievement,’
and he aspired to be a ‘serious’ writer; in writing historical romances, he
believed he was following in the footsteps of Sir Walter Scott.” Kenneth Wilson,
A Tragedy
Who’s that walking on the moorland?
Who’s that moving on the hill?
They are passing ’mid the bracken,
But the shadows grow and blacken
And I cannot see them clearly on the hill.
Who’s that calling on the moorland?
Who’s that crying on the hill?
Was it bird or was it human,
Was it child, or man, or woman,
Who was calling so sadly on the hill?
Who’s that running on the moorland?
Who’s that flying on the hill?
He is there—and there again,
But you cannot see him plain,
For the shadow lies so darkly on the hill.
What’s that lying in the heather?
What’s that lurking on the hill?
My horse will go no nearer,
And I cannot see it clearer,
But there’s something that is lying on the hill.