Through the fretted
greenery, I saw the dim shadows of men passing swiftly. The thought of
the horse worried me. If the confounded beast grazed peaceably down the
other side of the hill, all might be well. So long as he was out of
sight any movement he made would be set down by the Indians to some
forest beast, for animals' noises are all alike in a wood. But if he
returned to us, there would be the devil to pay, for at a glimpse of
him our thicket would be alive with the enemy.
In the end I found it best to shut my eyes and commend our case to our
Maker. Then I counted very slowly to myself up to four hundred, and
looked again. The vale was empty.
We lay still, hardly believing in our deliverance, for the matter of a
quarter of an hour, and then Shalah, making a sign to me to remain,
turned and glided up lull. I put my hand behind me, found Elspeth's
cheek, and patted it. She stretched out a hand and clutched mine
feverishly, and thus we remained till, after what seemed an age, Shalah
returned.
He was on his feet and walking freely. He had found the horse, too, and
had it by the bridle.
"The danger is past," he said gravely. "Let us go back to the glade and
rest."
I helped Elspeth to her feet, and on my arm she clambered to the grassy
place in the woods.
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