He had a feeling that some one was crawling over the short grass, wiggling along like a snake, but the faint sound, if sound it was, grew less distinct.

Finally he lifted his head above the edge of the bank, but saw nothing, not even a dim shadow.
"They are closing in, I reckon," he thought soberly, "and it is n't likely there will be any more of these gentry as far back as this; looks as though this gully turned west just beyond.

Anyhow I 've got to risk it." He returned more rapidly, knowing the passage, yet with no less caution, finding the unconscious girl lying exactly as he had left her.
As he clasped her form in his arms, her lips uttered some incoherent words, but otherwise she gave no sign of life.
"Yes, yes," he whispered close to her ear, hoping thus to hold her silent.

"It is all right now; only keep still." He could feel her breathing, and realized the danger of her return to consciousness.

If she should be frightened and cry out, their fate would be sealed.