It's not an enlivening performance to keep watch, I must say." She stopped, suddenly on the alert.

What was that noise in the darkness to her left?
She distinctly heard a rustle among the gorse-bushes, and thought something moved in the deep shadow.
"Halt! Who goes there ?" she challenged.
There was no reply, but the rustle sounded again, this time nearer to the camp.

She listened with every sense strained to the uttermost.
Something or someone was slinking in from the field and creeping cautiously towards the tents; of that she was nearly certain.

Wild ideas of thieving tramps flooded her brain.

A louder sound confirmed her suspicions.