To cross the open field and gain the fringe of woods on the other side was the nearest way to the quarters, but for the moment was the most exposed course; to follow the hedge to the bottom of the field and the boundary fence and then cross at right angles, in its shadow, would be safer, but they would lose valuable time.

Believing that Cato's vengeful assailant was still hovering near with his comrades, Courtland cast a quick glance down the shadowy line of Osage hedge beside them.
Suddenly Cato grasped his arm and pointed in the same direction, where the boundary fence he had noticed--a barrier of rough palings--crossed the field.

With the moon low on the other side of it, it was a mere black silhouette, broken only by bright silver openings and gaps along its surface that indicated the moonlit field beyond.

At first Courtland saw nothing else.

Then he was struck by the fact that these openings became successively and regularly eclipsed, as with the passing of some opaque object behind them.