afield vs in the distance

afield

adv
  • Away (from the home or starting point, physical or conceptual); usually preceded by far (or farther, further). 

  • Out in the open. 

  • On the field. 

in the distance

adv
  • far away; a long distance away 

How often have the words afield and in the distance occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )