nd they should turn back.
But Wyatt rebuked them angrily. He did not mean to be beaten in such a
way by an enemy who remained in hiding. The bullet had shown that it was
an earthly foe, and, as far as Manitou was concerned, he always awarded
the victory to courage, skill and luck. The Indians went forward
reluctantly.

The next night they tied up again by the wooded bank. Wyatt wanted two
of the warriors to remain in the boat, but they refused absolutely to do
so. Despite all that he could say their superstitious fears were strong
upon them, and they meant to stay close to their comrades upon the solid
earth. Dreading too severe a test of his authority the renegade
consented, and all of them, except the guards, lay down among the bushes
near the shore. It was a fine summer night, not very dark, and Wyatt did
not believe a foe could come near them without being seen. He felt more
confidence, but again he was sleepless. He closed his eyes and sought
slumber by every device that he knew, but it would not come. At last he
made a circuit with Early and two of the Indians in the forest about the
camp, but saw and heard nothing. Returning, he lay down on his blanket
and once more wooed sleep with shut eyes.

Sleep still refused obstinately to come, and in ten minutes the renegade
reopened his eyes. His glance wandered idly over the recumbent Indians
who were sound asleep, and then to those who watched. It passed from
them to the river and the black blur of the boat lying upon the water
about twenty yards away. Then it passed on and after a while came back
again to the boat.

Braxton Wyatt knew that optical illusions were common, especially in the
obscurity of night. One could look so long at a motionless object that
it seemed to move. That was why the boat, tied securely to low boughs,
did that curious trick of apparently gliding over the surface of the
river. Wyatt laughed at himself. In the faint light, brain was superior
to eye. He would not allow himself to be deceived, and the quality of
mind that saved him from delusions gave him pride. He did not have a
very good view of the boat from the point where he lay, but he saw
enough of it to know that when he looked again it would be lying exactly
where it had been all the time, despite that illusory trick of movement.
So, to show the superiority of will over fancy, he kept his eyes shut a
longer time than usual, and when he opened them once more he looked
directly at the b