Otherwise there was only the calling of plovers and the tinkling of little streams.
It was now about seven o'clock, and as I waited I heard once again that ominous beat in the air.

Then I realized that my vantage-ground might be in reality a trap.

There was no cover for a tomtit in those bald green places.
I sat quite still and hopeless while the beat grew louder.

Then I saw an aeroplane coming up from the east.

It was flying high, but as I looked it dropped several hundred feet and began to circle round the knot of hill in narrowing circles, just as a hawk wheels before it pounces.