Please be off at once, and choose a spot
close to where the ground falls away, on the other side. Roger and I
must tumble this shelter down, and scatter the sticks; for if anyone
searching the hillside came along, he would guess that we had slept
here, and there would be a hue and cry at once."
The man had left, sometime before, for the valley; having gone off as
soon as he had spoken to the girls. Oswald and Roger ran down to the
shelter, speedily threw the stones into a heap, and scattered the
sticks; then, after glancing round to see that nothing had been left,
they collected the blankets, provisions, and water skin; and, taking up
these and Oswald's armour, ran in the direction that Oswald had pointed
out to the girls.
The ground was thickly covered with heather, and they had to step
carefully to avoid pressing it down. They reached the edge of the
plateau without seeing the girls and, after looking round for a minute
or two, Oswald called aloud.
He was answered by a merry laugh, and Jessie's head rose above the
heather. They had, indeed, passed within five or six yards of the
girls.
"That is good, indeed," Oswald said, as he lay down beside them. "If I
could not see you, when I was sure that you were quite near, there is
no fear of any searchers lighting upon you.
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