48390    I kept the road as long as his eye was on me, and then I struck off across the moor and made for the stony hill over which the boy had disappeared.

48391    Everything was working in my favour, and I swore that it should not be through lack of energy or perseverance that I should miss the chance which Fortune had thrown in my way.

48392    The sun was already sinking when I reached the summit of the hill, and the long slopes beneath me were all golden-green on one side and grey shadow on the other.

48393    A haze lay low upon the farthest sky-line, out of which jutted the fantastic shapes of Belliver and Vixen Tor.

48394    Over the wide expanse there was no sound and no movement.

48395    One great grey bird, a gull or curlew, soared aloft in the blue heaven.

48396    He and I seemed to be the only living things between the huge arch of the sky and the desert beneath it.

48397    The barren scene, the sense of loneliness, and the mystery and urgency of my task all struck a chill into my heart.

48398    The boy was nowhere to be seen.

48399    But down beneath me in a cleft of the hills there was a circle of the old stone huts, and in the middle of them there was one which retained sufficient roof to act as a screen against the weather.

48400    My heart leaped within me as I saw it.

48401    This must be the burrow where the stranger lurked.

48402    At last my foot was on the threshold of his hiding-place - his secret was within my grasp.

48403    As I approached the hut, walking as warily as Stapleton would do when with poised net he drew near the settled butterfly, I satisfied myself that the place had indeed been used as a habitation.

48404    A vague pathway among the boulders led to the dilapidated opening which served as a door.