Finally he moved away from that spot, but treading very softly, and holding his breath to listen, for it seemed to him that the forest had something to tell him, and that if he listened he would hear the leaves speaking to him.  And by-and-by he did hear a sound:  it came from a spot about a hundred yards away, and was like the sound of a person crying.  Then came low sobs which rose and fell and then ceased, and after a silent interval began again.  Perhaps it was a child, lost there in the forest like himself.  Going softly to the spot he discovered that the sobbing sounds came from the other side of a low tree with widespread branches, a kind of acacia with thin loose foliage, but he could not see through it, and so he went round the tree to look, and startled a dove which flew off with a loud clatter of its wings.

When the dove had flown away it was again very silent.  What was he to do?  He was too tired now to walk much farther, and the sun was getting low, so that all the ground was in shadow.  He went on a little way looking for some nice shelter where he could pass the night, but could not find one.  At length, when the sun had set and the dark was coming, he came upon an old half-dead tree, where there was a hollow at the roots, lined with half dry moss, very soft to his foot, and it seemed a nice place to sleep in.  But he had no choice, for he was afraid of going further in the dark among the trees; and so, creeping into the hollow among the old roots, he curled himself up as comfortably as he could, and soon began to get very drowsy, in spite of having no covering to keep him warm.  But although very tired and sleepy, he did not go quite to sleep, for he had never been all alone in a wood by night before, and it was different from the open plain where he could see all round, even at night, and where he had feared nothing.  Here the trees looked strange and made strange black shadows, and he thought that the strange people of the wood were perhaps now roaming about and would find him there.  He did not want them to find him fast asleep; it was better to be awake, so that when they came he could jump up and run away and hide himself from them.  Once or twice a slight rustling sound made him start and think that at last some one was coming to him, stealing softly so as to catch him unawares, but he could see nothing moving, and when he held his breath to listen there was no sound.

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Then all at once, just when he had almost dropped off, a great cry sounded at a distance, and made him start up wide awake again.  “O look! look! look!” cried the voice in a tone so deep and strange and powerful that no one could have heard it without terror, for it seemed to be uttered by some forest monster twenty times bigger than an ordinary man.  In a moment an answer came from another part of the wood.  “What’s that?” cried the answering voice; and then another voice cried, and then others far and near, all shouting “What’s that?” and for only answer the first voice shouted once more, “O look! look! look!”