s that were miles away to the westward. No sound indicated the
presence of any further danger close at hand. Everything was quiet, and
seemingly at rest.

CHAPTER XXXI.

SLEEP.

The sentinel on his rounds, the watchman upon his beat, or the sailor
pacing the deck of his vessel in mid-ocean, keeps his senses awake by
the constant motion of his body. To sit down to rest for a few minutes
only is fatal. Sleep has the power of stealing over the faculties, and
wrapping them up in its embrace so insidiously, that no watchfulness can
guard against it unless artificial means, such as walking, are resorted
to. When Ned Chadmund resumed an easy position in front of his own camp
fire, the inevitable result followed. He resolved to keep his ears and
eyes open, and almost immediately closed them. A few minutes passed and
then his head began to nod. Several times he narrowly escaped tumbling
over, and, finally rousing, he vigorously rubbed his eyes, yawned, and
arose to his feet.

"My gracious! this won't do," he exclaimed, with a shuddering sense of
the danger he was running. "A bear might steal right up to me and eat me
up before I could help myself. If I'm going to play sentinel, I must do
it like a man."

Straightway he began pacing back and forth in front of the blaze, his
beat extending some twenty feet back and forth. He carried his rifle on
his shoulder and proved the thoroughness of his vigilance by an
occasional glance at the top of the rock, from which the mountain wolf
had made its death leap. The coast remained clear. The far-off sounds
which had attracted his attention a short time before were not repeated,
and, as the labor of walking back and forth grew a little wearisome, he
began to argue the question with himself.

"I wonder whether there isn't some way of resting without working? If
I've got to walk all night, what shall I be good for to-morrow? I don't
see any fun in this sort of business. Ah, I know how I'll fix it; I'll
kindle two fires."

He acted upon the idea at once. He had gathered such an abundance of
fuel that he had no fear of the supply running out. In a few minutes he
had a second fire started, about a dozen feet from the other, while he
stowed himself away directly between them. His position, he soon
discovered, was rather warmer than he anticipated, but he speedily
remedied this by permitting each fire to subside in a slight degree.

"This is nice," he muttered, shrinking up agains