Then there was silence once more--silence which became deeper as the hour approached midnight.

Passers-by were fewer; the birds and animals came out from their hiding places.

A rabbit scurried across the road; a rat darted down the tiny stream.

Now and then birds moved in the undergrowth, and the man, who was struggling all the time with a deadly faintness, felt the silence grow more and more oppressive.

He began even to wonder where he was.