When dusk fell upon the highway Dugan put his bearpads back on his feet and scuttled across. He knew that bears rarely went around — in any part of the world — with sacks slung over their shoulders. But he did not wait for complete darkness before climbing up the other hill. By taking a chance in the early dusk, he gained almost two hours of useful light — light which diminished in the thickness of the forest but which meant the difference between some progress and none at all. And by waiting till dusk, he had made himself mistakable; if a long-range sentry had been watching the road, and had driven along later on to investigate, he might be taken in by the print of bear tracks.
Dugan was sweating profusely by the time he reached the next hilltop. It was pitch dark. On one of his stolen Russian wrist watches — the one which he had kept because it had a good luminous dial and was waterproof as well — he saw that it was past eight in the evening. He rested a few minutes and then started downhill very carefully, picking his way so as to move with a maximum of silence.
Disquiet grew upon him. He had the feeling of being watched.
Still more quietly he kept on going, though he began to grope for a good place to hide.
He walked right into a huge oak tree.
Standing perfectly still and listening intently, he could hear human voices far away and could hear the even more distant resonance of machines.
But no one seemed nearby.
He tried to shinny up the tree and could not make it. He was too tired, and the sack too heavy and clumsy, for him to get up to the lowest limbs of the tree.
After several more vain tries he took off his belt, removed the rope from the mouth of the sack and, tying them together with a sheathed knife at the end, threw one end over a branch. He let the knife down until he could reach it and found that he still had rope to spare. He tied the mouth of the sack to the free end of the rope, pulled the sack up the first branch, and then climbed after it.
Just as he was trying to get farther up into the tree, he heard footsteps. They were regular. Two people were coming along a path.