He closed his staring eyes, and very gradually the sucking motion recommenced.
Hyla stared stupidly at this slow torture, unable to move or think.
It was soon over now, and the body sank very quickly away, and left the survivor gazing without thought at the spot where nothing marked a grave.
As he watched, a hare with a broken leg began to hobble across the vivid greenness.
CHAPTER XIII
"A most composed invincible man, in difficulty and distress knowing no discouragement, in danger and menace laughing at the whisper of fear."
There is a wonderful steadfast courage about men of Hyla's breed. Even though the object they pursue has lost its value, they go on in a dogged relentless "following up" from which nothing can turn them.
For two hours or more he mourned and thought of old times, gazing in a kind of strange wonder at the silent carpet of grass. The shrewd weatherworn face, the twinkling eager eyes, the nasal drawl which so glibly offered up petitions to heaven, all came back to him with a singular vividness. He was surprised to find how actual and clear his friend's personality was to him. It almost frightened him. He glanced round him once or twice uneasily. Cerdic seemed so real and near, an unseen partner in the silence.