could not be sure that a slight gust of wind had not shaken them.
But I was so convinced that I had heard close to me a real human
laugh, or sound of some living creature that exactly simulated a
laugh, that I carefully searched the ground about me, expecting
to find a being of some kind. But I found nothing, and going
back to my seat on the hanging branch, I remained seated for a
considerable time, at first only listening, then pondering on the
mystery of that sweet trill of laughter; and finally I began to
wonder whether I, like the spider that chased the shadow, had
been deluded, and had seemed to hear a sound that was not a
sound.

On the following day I was in the wood again, and after a two or
three hours' ramble, during which I heard nothing, thinking it
useless to haunt the known spots any longer, I turned southwards
and penetrated into a denser part of the forest, where the
undergrowth made progress difficult. I was not afraid of losing
myself; the sun above and my sense of direction, which was always
good, would enable me to return to the starting-point.

In this direction I had been pushing resolutely on for over half
an hour, finding it no easy matter to make my way without
constantly deviating to this side or that from the course I
wished to keep, when I came to a much more open spot. The trees
were smaller and scantier here, owing to the rocky nature of the
ground, which sloped rather rapidly down; but it was moist and
overgrown with mosses, ferns, creepers, and low shrubs, all of
the liveliest green. I could not see many yards ahead owing to
the bushes and tall fern fronds; but presently I began to hear a
low, continuous sound, which, when I had advanced twenty or