But the birds passed away unnoticed, for just then Distin uttered a cry which brought Macey tearing over the furze and brambles following Gilmore, who was already at the edge of the stream, and just then the signal was given by the miller to go on.
Chapter Twenty Two.
Vane is Taken at a Disadvantage.
Vane felt for the moment quite startled, the place being so silent and solitary, but the idea of danger seemed to him absurd, and he stood watching the shadow till all doubt of its being human ceased, for an arm was raised and then lowered as if a signal was being made.
“What can it mean?” he thought. And then:—“I’ll soon see.”
Just as he had made up his mind to walk forward, there was a slight movement and a sharp crack as of a twig of dead wood breaking under the pressure of a foot, and he who caused the sound, feeling that his presence must be known, stepped out from behind the tree.
“Why, I fancied it was Distie,” said Vane to himself with a feeling of relief that he would have found it hard to explain, for it was one of the gipsy lads approaching him in a slow, furtive way.
“Thought they were gone long enough ago,” he said to himself; and then speaking: “Hi! you, sir; come here!—Make him try and dig some up. Wonder they don’t hunt for truffles themselves,” he added. “Don’t think they are wholesome, perhaps.”