The dogs clung closer to him.

While chasing the rabbit this slope had appeared interminable to him; now, burdened as he was, he did not think of length or height or toil.

He remembered only to avoid a misstep and to keep his direction.

He climbed on, with frequent stops to watch the rim, and before he dreamed of gaining the bench he bumped his knees into it, and saw, in the dim gray light, his rifle and the rabbit.

He had come straight up without mishap or swerving off his course, and his shut teeth unlocked.
As he laid the girl down in the shallow hollow of the little ridge with her white face upturned, she opened her eyes.