By gad!
we've got a surprise in store for them if only Jim don't get stampeded."

Turning to listen for sounds from his little garrison, Pike could
distinguish two that were audible and that prevailed above all or any
others: Kate was tearfully moaning and praying aloud; Jim placidly
snoring.

"That nigger could lie down and go to sleep, by thunder, if he knew the
world was coming to an end in less than an hour. I'll have to watch here
till nearly dawn and have the strongest coffee I can brew all ready for
him or he'll be going to sleep on his post and letting those hounds
crawl right upon us. Coffee's a good idea! I'll have some myself."

So saying the veteran stole back into the cave, noiselessly filled the
battered coffee-pot and set it on the coals, said a few reassuring words
to Kate and begged her to remember him in her prayers, laughed at her
doleful and despairing reply and returned to his post.

All quiet. Even the wild-cat had disappeared and there was now no longer
light by which he could have detected the creature. Pike almost wished
he hadn't gone, for, as he grimly said, the fellow might have been good
company and kept him from getting sleepy. Little by little the Indian
chant was getting drowsy and the weird dancers, some of the younger
braves, tired of the sport when there were neither admiring squaws or
approving old chiefs to look on. The chiefs in this case, of course, had
consumed the greater portion of the whiskey and were now sleeping off
its soporific effects, and the youngsters could only remain where they
were, keep watch and ward against surprise, and make no move in any
direction until their elders should be themselves again, unless the
sudden coming of enemies should compel them to rouse their leaders from
their drunken slumbers and skip like so many goats for the highest parts
of the mountain.

Looking at his watch as he sipped his tin of coffee Pike noticed that it
was now eleven o'clock. "Oh, if I only knew that all was well with the
captain," he muttered. "And if I only knew where Sieber and the cavalry
were to-night."

Not until after two o'clock in the morning did the old soldier decide
that it was time to "turn over the command" and seek a little rest
himself. He knew that he would not be half fit for the responsibilities
of the coming day unless he could get a few hours' sleep, and as Jim had
now been snoring uninterruptedly for over four hours, Pike concluded to
call him, giv