The boy glided in and looked round; he saw nothing, yet something there must be.

The rays of the early sun did not penetrate into the hollow, it was as dim as a cave.

He felt slowly in every crevice, and a startled moth or two flew out.

It was not for moths that the girl had come to Guy's Oak! He drew back, at last, in despair; as he did so, he heard a low sound close at hand,--a low, murmuring, angry sound, like a hiss; he looked round, and through the dark, two burning eyes fixed his own: he had startled a snake from its bed.

He drew out in time, as the reptile sprang; but now his task, search, and object were forgotten.