Thus prepared, he watched the gipsies advance.

They came walking their short wiry horses to within half a mile, when they began to trot down the slope; they could not surround the shepherds because of the steep-sided coombe and some brushwood, and could advance only on two fronts.

Felix rapidly became so excited that his sight was affected, and his head whirled.

His heart beat with such speed that his breath seemed going.

His limbs tottered, and he dreaded lest he should faint.
His intensely nervous organization, strung up to its highest pitch, shook him in its grasp, and his will was powerless to control it.