It takes all sorts of men to make a world, but I thought at the time that for this business the steel nerves of the Borderer were worth many quicker brains and more alert spirits.
The hours marched sombrely towards midnight, while we stayed every man by his post.

I asked Shalah if the enemy had gone, and he shook his head.

He had the sense of a wild animal to detect danger in the forest when the eye and ear gave no proof.

He stood like a stag, sniffing the night air, and peering with his deep eyes into the gloom.

Fortunately, though the moon was all but full, the sky was so overcast that only the faintest yellow glow broke into the darkness of the hill-tops.
It must have been an hour after midnight when we got our next warning of the enemy.