Then he resumed the task of crawling forward on his
face, and without making any noise, one of the most difficult feats that
a human being is ever called upon to do.
At the end of a dozen feet, he paused both to rest and to listen.
His acute ears told him that Haskell had not moved from his own place,
and his eyes showed him that the darkness was increasing. Those
wonderful, kindly clouds were thickening before the moon, and the stars
in troops were going out of sight.
But he did not relax his caution. He knew that he could not afford to
make any sound that would arouse the suspicions of Haskell, and it was
a quarter of an hour before he felt himself absolutely safe. Then he
passed around a big tree and arose behind its trunk, appreciating what a
tremendous luxury it was to be a man and to stand upon one's own feet.
He had triumphed again! The stars surely were with him. They might play
little tricks upon him now and then to tantalize him, but in the more
important matters they were on his side. He stretched himself again and
again to relieve the terrible stiffness caused by such long and painful
crawling, and then, unable to resist an exultant impulse, he called
loudly:
"Good-by, Haskell!"
There was a startled exclamation and a bullet fired at random cut the
leaves twenty yards away.
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