They had not yet forgotten the lesson given by Ziffak some hours before.
To escape attention, he walked toward the river, passing down the long sloping bank, until he reached the open, cleared space which has been referred to as caused by the overflow of the water.

Here the walking was easy, and, turning his face up stream, he walked slowly as a man does who is in deep thought.
A man who is revelling in the first dream of love is not the one to pay close attention to his surroundings.

He is so apt to be rapt in his own sweet meditations, that he fails in the most ordinary observation.
Reaching the bottom of the slope, Ashman glanced behind and on his right.

He caught glimpses of several figures moving about like shadows, but so far as he could judge, none of them was interested in him.

Dismissing them from his mind, he moved on.
He had walked less than one-third of the length of the village front, when the form of a man slipped softly down the incline, following in his footsteps and moving as silently as a Murhapa warrior tracking his foe through the forest.
He was dressed similarly to the American, having the same style of Panama hat, shirt and boots, and he carried a rifle in his hand.