Fortune seemed to favor their daring.

The great silence lasted, broken only by puffs of wind and rain, and the wet leaves of the forest rubbing softly against each other.

Paul looked back once.

The cabin was already melting into a blur, although not twenty yards distant, and in as many yards more it would be lost completely in the surrounding darkness.
Now the forest was only a few yards away, but to Paul it seemed very far.
His knees and wrists began to ache, and the two rifles became awkward for him to carry.

He wondered how Henry could go forward with so much ease, but he resolved to persist as long as his comrade led the way.
The dark outline of the wood slowly came nearer, then nearer yet, and then they entered it, pressing silently among the hushes and the black shadows of the lofty trees.