The timber was of greater density here, for it was nearer the foot of the mountains.
In proportion as the trees become taller and as they stand closer together, the ground below is freer from shrubbery, and may be scanned from a certain distance with greater ease.

Nevertheless the soil is more rocky, ledges crop out on the surface, isolated blocks appear, boulders, and sometimes low, dyke-like protuberances.
When Topanashka felt certain of the proximity of the trail, he scanned the ground very carefully.

It was still flat, notwithstanding some rocky patches.

The shade was deep, and as far as the eye reached, nothing moved; nothing suspicious was seen, nay, nothing that bore life, except the sombre vegetation.

The wind increased in force; the pines faintly murmured from time to time; a blast penetrated beneath them to the surface of the soil, chasing the dry needles in fitful whirls or playing with the tall bunch-grasses that were growing profusely here.
If any man was about he certainly kept outside the range of vision.