He noticed a suspicious twittering and cracking, not behind him, but at one side; and it approached.
He comprehended at once that one of the Navajos, instead of rushing to the rescue of the one whom Tyope had struck down, had taken a direction diagonal to his own, with the hope of intercepting him near the brink of the declivity leading down into the Rito, or perhaps sooner.

A change in his line of flight was thereby rendered necessary, but in what direction?
The warning sounds were heard directly north of him; then everything became quiet.

The same stillness reigned all around; and this proved that the pursuers, while certainly approaching with the greatest possible alacrity, were anxious to cover their movements.

Tyope stood still, undecided what to do.

The sound of a breaking or bending twig, faint though audible, caused him to crouch behind a cedar bush again.