Then suddenly I saw something which stiffened me against a trunk.
Forty paces off in the dusk a face was looking from behind a tree.

It was to the west of me, and was looking downhill towards a patch of undergrowth.

I noted the long feather, the black forelock, the red skin of the forehead.
At the sight for the first time the zest of the pursuit filled me, and I forgot my pain.

Had I outwitted my wily foe, and by some miracle stolen a march on him?
I dared not believe it; but yet, as I rubbed my eyes, I could not doubt it.

I had got my chance, and had taken him unawares.