The aasvogel on watch up there far out of the range of man's vision had seen the deed, and, by sinking downwards, signalled it to his companions that were quartering the sky for fifty miles round; for these birds prey by sight, not by smell.

Down he came and down, and long before he had reached the neighbourhood of earth other specks appeared in the distant blue.

Now he was not more than four or five hundred yards above me, and began to wheel, floating round the place upon his wide wings, and sinking as he wheeled.

So he sank softly and slowly until he was about a hundred and fifty feet above Hans.

Then suddenly he paused, hung quite steady for a few seconds, shut his wings and fell like a bolt, only opening them again just before he reached the earth.
Here he settled, tilting forward in that odd way which vultures have, and scrambling a few awkward paces until he gained his balance.