She heard him, and, pretending to obey him, so as to satisfy him, ran hastily over the spot indicated, and then returned to the place which had attracted her before, and instantly perceived them again. Now that he no longer bothered her she knew exactly what to do, and without looking where she was going, stumbling over tussocks to her great indignation and falling into the water, but quickly extricating herself with her strong, agile legs, she began to circle round, so as to get her exact bearings.
The scent of the birds kept growing stronger and stronger, more and more distinct, and suddenly it became perfectly evident to her that one of them was there, just behind a certain tussock not five steps in front of her, and she stopped and trembled all over. Her legs were so short that she could not see anything, but she knew by the scent that the bird was sitting there not five steps distant from her. She pointed, growing each instant more certain of her game and full of joy in the anticipation. Her tail stuck straight out and only the end of it quivered. Her mouth was open slightly. Her ears were cocked up. Indeed, one ear had been all the time pricked up as she ran, and she was panting heavily, but cautiously, and looking round still more cautiously, rather with her eyes than with her head, to see if her master was coming. He was coming, leaping from tussock to tussock, and more slowly than usual it seemed to her; his face bore the expression which she knew so well, and which was so terrible to her. It seemed to her that he was coming slowly, and yet he was running!
Remarking Laska's peculiar method of search as she crouched down close to the ground and took such long strides that her hind legs seemed to rake the ground, and noticing her slightly opened mouth. Levin knew that she was on the track of snipe, and offering a mental prayer to God that he might not miss especially his first shot, he followed the dog. As he came up close to her he looked from his superior height and saw with his eyes what she perceived only with her nose. In a nook between two tussocks not more than six feet
