Book Two The Woman - Chapter 24 The Virgil Book

A man was leaning in the shadow of a tree, looking down into the
Hollow.

I could not see him very distinctly because, though evening had
scarcely fallen, the shadows, where he stood, were very dense,
but he was gazing down into the Hollow in the attitude of one who
waits. For what?--for whom?

A sudden fit of shivering shook me from head to foot, and, while
I yet shivered, I grew burning hot; the blood throbbed at my
temples, the small hammer was drumming much faster now, and the
cool night air seemed to be stifling me.

Very cautiously I began creeping nearer the passive figure, while
the hammer beat so loud that it seemed he must hear it where he
stood: a shortish, broad-shouldered figure, clad in a blue coat.
He held his hat in his hand, and he leaned carelessly against the
tree, and his easy assurance of air maddened me the more.

As he stood thus, looking always down into the Hollow, his neck
gleamed at me above the collar of his coat, wherefore I stooped
and, laying my irons in the grass, crept on, once more, and, as I
went, I kept my eyes upon his neck.

A stick snapped sharp and loud beneath my tread, the lounging
back stiffened and grew rigid, the face showed for an instant
over the shoulder, and, with a spring, he had vanished into the
bushes.

It was a vain hope to find a man in such a dense tangle of boughs
and underbrush, yet I ran forward, nevertheless; but, though I
sought eagerly upon all sides, he had made good his escape. So,
after a while, I retraced my steps to where I had left my irons
and brackets, and taking them up, turned aside to that precipitous
path which, as I have already said, leads down into the Hollow.