Certainly nothing was moving in the forest.

The leaves hung lifeless.

His fancies had been foolish.
He stepped boldly from the undergrowth in which he had knelt, and a glimpse of a flitting shadow made him kneel again.

It was instinct that caused him to drop down so quickly, but he knew that it had saved his life.

Something glittering whistled where his head had been, and then struck with a sound like a sigh against the trunk of a tree.
Robert sank from his knees, until he lay almost fiat, and brought his rifle forward for instant use.