Near twilight on a Saturday in November, Egdon Heath slowly turns dark. It has changed little from the way it was described in ancient times. The only evidence of activity is an old highway and an even older barrow (a heap of earth piled over ancient burial sites).
An old man in clothes of nautical style makes his way along this highway and presently catches up with another traveler walking alongside a van. By the red color of his complexion, his clothes, and his van, the second man is identified as a reddleman, a seller of a red chalk substance sheep farmers used to make identifying marks on their flock.
During a brief conversation, the old man discovers that the reddleman has a young woman in his van, but the reddleman will say little about her. He leaves the old man to pull off the road and rest, and while he does, the reddleman sees a figure on top of the highest point in the heath, a Celtic barrow. He can tell the figure is a woman. He is surprised to see her place taken by several other figures.
