`` Sit ye , then , and eat , '' said Dick , `` while that I scout a little forward for the road . '' And he took a wallet from his girdle , wherein were bread and pieces of dry bacon , and , while Matcham fell heartily to , struck farther forth among the trees . A little beyond there was a dip in the ground , where a streamlet soaked among dead leaves ; and beyond that , again , the trees were better grown and stood wider , and oak and beech began to take the place of willow and elm . The continued tossing and pouring of the wind among the leaves sufficiently concealed the sounds of his footsteps on the mast ; it was for the ear what a moonless night is to the eye ; but for all that Dick went cautiously , slipping from one big trunk to another , and looking sharply about him as he went . Suddenly a doe passed like a shadow through the underwood in front of him , and he paused , disgusted at the chance . This part of the wood had been certainly deserted , but now that the poor deer had run , she was like a messenger he should have sent before him to announce his coming ; and instead of pushing farther , he turned him to the nearest well-grown tree , and rapidly began to climb . Luck had served him well . The oak on which he had mounted was one of the tallest in that quarter of the wood , and easily out-topped its neighbours by a fathom and a half ; and when Dick had clambered into the topmost fork and clung there , swinging dizzily in the great wind , he saw behind him the whole fenny plain as far as Kettley , and the Till wandering among woody islets , and in front of him , the white line of high-road winding through the forest . The boat had been righted -- it was even now midway on the ferry . Beyond that there was no sign of man , nor aught moving but the wind . He was about to descend , when , taking a last view , his eye lit upon a string of moving points about the middle of the fen . Plainly a small troop was threading the causeway , and that at a good pace ; and this gave him some concern as he shinned vigorously down the trunk and returned across the wood for his companion . CHAPTER IV -- A GREENWOOD COMPANY Matcham was well rested and revived ; and the two lads , winged by what Dick had seen , hurried through the remainder of the outwood , crossed the road in safety , and began to mount into the high ground of Tunstall Forest . The trees grew more and more in groves , with heathy places in between , sandy , gorsy , and dotted with old yews . The ground became more and more uneven , full of pits and hillocks . And with every step of the ascent the wind still blew the shriller , and the trees bent before the gusts like fishing-rods . They had just entered one of the clearings , when Dick suddenly clapped down upon his face among the brambles , and began to crawl slowly backward towards the shelter of the grove . Matcham , in great bewilderment , for he could see no reason for this flight , still imitated his companion 's course ; and it was not until they had gained the harbour of a thicket that he turned and begged him to explain . For all reply , Dick pointed with his finger . At the far end of the clearing , a fir grew high above the neighbouring wood , and planted its black shock of foliage clear against the sky .
For about fifty feet above the ground the trunk XXXXX straight and solid like a column .
became coming gained grew moving pushing see sent turned winged