noon
`` When day had come , I took as much of the provisions as I could carry , and made good my escape . I was surprised at the old man 's absence , and fearful lest at any moment he might turn up . I did not cross the river at the mouth , but worked my way along the right-hand bank , intending to cross higher up and nearer the hut , where it was more narrow . At noon I made a halt and snatched a little sleep , for I had purposed to travel through the night . Some hours after darkness had fallen , I began to be haunted with the old sense that something was following . At first I heard no sound , for I was travelling over open ground . Presently I had to enter a thicket , and there I was made certain ; for I could distinctly hear the snapping of branches , as if bent and forced aside by the passage of some forest animal .