There he lay panting hard for a few moments, but quite sure that he was safe from discovery.

Only a long and most minute search would be likely to reveal the dark line in the snow beneath the overhanging bushes.
Dick's heart presently resumed its normal beat, and then he heard the sound of voices and footsteps.

Some one said: "They went this way, sir, but they were running pretty fast." "They'd good cause to run," said a brusque voice.

"You'd a done it, too, if you'd expected to have the bullets of a whole army barkin' at your heels." The footsteps came nearer, crunching on the snow, which lay deep there among the bushes.

They could not be more than a dozen feet away, but Dick quivered only a little.