The lissom willow wands parted easily and sprang back to their places behind, leaving scarce a trace.

Their slender tops rose overhead; beneath, long dead grasses, not yet quite supplanted by the spring growth, filled the space between.

These rustled a little under foot, but so faint a sound could scarcely have been audible outside; and had any one noticed it it would have been attributed to a hare or a fox moving: both are fond of lying in withy-beds when the ground is dry.
The way to walk noiselessly is to feel with the foot before letting your weight press on it; then the dead stick or fallen hemlock is discovered and avoided.

A dead stick cracks; the dry hollow hemlock gives a splintering sound when crushed.

These old hemlock stems were numerous in places, together with 'gicksies,' as the haymakers call a plant that resembles it, but has a ribbed or fluted instead of a smooth stalk.