...
It was already thick about them, and the trees stood very still. The
branches drooped, motionless in the warm evening air. The twigs
pointed. Each leaf had an eye, but a hidden, lidless eye. The saplings
saw them, but the heavier trunks _observed_ them. It was known in what
direction they were going, the direction, however, being chosen and
insisted on by the Wood. Their very steps were counted. The whole
business of the trees was suspended while they passed. They were being
watched. And the stillness was so deep that it forced them, too, to
make as little noise as possible. They moved with the utmost caution,
pretending that a snapping twig might betray their presence, yet
knowing quite well that each detail of their blundering advance was
marked down with the accuracy of an instantaneous photograph. Tim,
usually in advance, looked round from time to time, with a finger on
his lips; and though he himself made far more noise than his
companion, he stared with reproach when the latter snapped a stick or
let a leafy branch swish through the air too loudly.
"Oh, hush!" he whispered. "Please do hush!" and the same moment caught
his own foot in a root, placed cunningly across the path, and sprawled
forward with the noise of an explosion.
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