EMPEROR. How do you know that?
PIERRE. He climbed down the banks of every small stream. I should have leaped them.
EMPEROR. You think it would be an easy matter, then, to follow and capture him?
PIERRE. Not easy, sire, for he was always on the lookout.
EMPEROR. How do you know that?
PIERRE. Whenever he reached a clear space, he went to one side, hiding behind trees to look ahead. Then he ran across the open.
EMPEROR. Your proof of this, my lad?
PIERRE. His footprints in every clear space showed only the balls of the feet.
EMPEROR. Good! You followed him only to the river.
PIERRE. Those were the orders, sire. Had I gone on, I could have overtaken him by evening.