, dead leaves and fir
needles could hardly have received any impression, and up in the firs
the branches were thin, and the sky could be seen through them. Whether
the Bushman was lying in some slight depression of the ground, or
whether he had covered himself with dead leaves and fir needles, or
whether he had gone on and was miles away, there was nothing to show.
But of the fact that he had been there Felix was perfectly certain.

He returned towards Oliver, thoughtful and not without some anxiety, for
he did not like the idea (though there was really little or no danger)
of these human wild beasts being so near Aurora, while he should so soon
be far away. Thus occupied he did not heed his steps, and suddenly felt
something soft under his feet, which struggled. Instantaneously he
sprang as far as he could, shuddering, for he had crushed an adder, and
but just escaped, by his involuntary and mechanical leap, from its
venom.

In the warm sunshine the viper, in its gravid state, had not cared to
move as usual on hearing his approach; he had stepped full upon it. He
hastened from the spot, and rejoined Oliver in a somewhat shaken state
of mind. Common as such an incident was in the woods, where sandy soil
warned the hunter to be careful, it seemed ominous that particular
morning, and, joined with the discovery of Bushman traces, quite
destroyed his sense of the beauty of the day.

On hearing the condition of the willow boughs Oliver agreed as to the
cause, and said that they must remember to warn the Baron's shepherds
that the Bushmen, who had not been seen for some time, were about. Soon
afterwards they emerged from the sombre firs and crossed a wide and
sloping ground, almost bare of trees, where a forest fire last year had
swept away the underwood. A verdant growth of grass was now springing
up. Here they could canter side by side. The sunshine poured down, and
birds were singing joyously. But they soon passed it, and checked their
speed on entering the trees again.

Tall beeches, with round smooth trunks, stood thick and close upon the
dry and rising ground; their boughs met overhead, forming a green
continuous arch for miles. The space between was filled with brake fern,
now fast growing up, and the track itself was green with moss. As they
came into this beautiful place a red stag, startled from his browsing,
bounded down the track, his swift leaps carried him away like the wind;
in another moment he left the pa