Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. AFTER THE GOOD STAG. The next morning we were up and ready by four o'clock. The moon and stars were still shining brightly ; the air was fresh, but not cold. I went to the door of the house and looked out into the night. Nothing stirred: there was no sign of a single living creature being abroad: not even the murmur of a rivulet was to be heard, descending from the mountains to the plain,—a sound which among the hills seldom fails to greet the ear, either near or in the distance. But there rose around me that low hum, that indescribable rustle, which is never heard but in the silence of the night, and which seems to make the stillness palpable. From the depth of the forests before, behind me, and on every side, came that low, deep murmur tingling on the ear, as when the myriad buzzings of the invisible insect world in summer unite in one drowsy, hollow tone at noon. It was not loud, but it was distinct and very audible, even to an ear not quickly sensitive : it came from out of the earth, and from the woods, and from the sides of the mountains, and rising upwards filled all the air, even up to the very hill-tops lying in the cold light of the stars. Was this low sound perchance the breathing of Nature in her trance-like sleep ? We took our rifles and set out. Until we came to the woods it was easy enough to proceed; but here, it being steep and slippery, and as we were unable to see the path and the obstacles it presented, our progress was rather slow. This however I should say of myself only; for my companion was always in advance, nimbly mounting before me, and waiting till I reached him. The logs of wood left to rot on the ground are sadly inconvenient on such occasions: you knock your shins almost to pieces against them, or treading on the slippery sur...