I think he
thought that I was asleep; for when I saw him for the first time I was
lying down and looking at the crag opposite. And I saw him raise himself
on his hands against the sky, as if he had been lying flat on his face
in the heather. I looked at him for a while, and then I flung my hand
out of bed suddenly, and he was gone in a whisk. I went to the door
after a time, stretching myself as if I were just awakened, and there
was no sign of him.
"About an hour before sunset I was watching again; and I saw, on a
sudden, a covey of birds rise suddenly about two hundred yards away to
the north of the hut--that is, by the way that I should have to go down
to the valleys again. They rose as if they were frightened. I kept my
eyes on the place, and presently I saw a man's hat moving very slowly.
It was the movement of a man crawling on his hands, drawing his legs
after him.
"Then I waited for David to come, but he did not come, and I determined
then to make my way down here as well as I could after dark. If there
were any fellows after me, I should have a better chance of escape than
if I stayed in the hut, I thought, until they could fetch up the rest;
and, if not, I could lose nothing by coming a day too soon."
"But--" began the girl eagerly.
"Wait," said Robin quietly. "That is not all. I made very poor way on
foot (for I thought it better to come quietly than on a horse), and I
went round about again and again in the precipitous ground so that, if
there were any after me, they could not tell which way I meant to go.
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