But he was always listening, and his eyes were ever roving.

This alertness had become second nature with him, so that except in extreme cases of caution he performed it while he pondered his gloomy and fateful situation.

Such habit of alertness and thought made time fly swiftly.
By noon he had rounded the wide curve of the brake and was facing south.

The bluff had petered out from a high, mountainous wall to a low abutment of rock, but it still held to its steep, rough nature and afforded no crack or slope where quick ascent could have been possible.
He pushed on, growing warier as he approached the danger-zone, finding that as he neared the river on this side it was imperative to go deeper into the willows.

In the afternoon he reached a point where he could see men pacing to and fro on the bluff.