der and shook him violently.

"Awake! Awake, Great Bear!" Tayoga chanted in his ear. "Do you think you
have gone into a cave for winter quarters? Lo, you have slept now, like
the animal for which you take your name! We knew you were exhausted,
and that your eyes ached for darkness and oblivion, but we did not know
it would take two nights and a day to bring back your wakefulness.
Dagaeoga and I were your true friends. We watched over you while you
slept out your mighty sleep and kept away from you the bears and
panthers that would have devoured you when you knew it not. They came
more than once to look at you, and truly the Great Bear is so large that
he would have made breakfast, dinner and supper for the hungriest bear
or panther that ever roamed the woods."

Willet sat up, sleep still heavy on his eyelids, and, for a moment or
two, looked dazed.

"What do you mean, you young rascals?" he asked. "You don't say that
I've been sleeping here two nights and a day?"

"Of course you have," replied Robert, "and I've never seen anybody sleep
so hard, either. Look under your blanket and see how your body has
actually bored a hole into the ground."

Then Willet began to laugh.

"I see, it's a joke," he said, "though I don't mind. You're good lads,
but it was your duty to have awakened me in the night and let me take my
part in the watch."

"You were very tired," said Robert, "and we took pity on you. Moreover,
the enemy is all about us, and we knew that the watch must be of the
best. Tayoga felt that at such a time he could trust me alone, and I
felt with equal force that I could trust him alone. We could not put our
lives in the hands of a mere beginner."

Willet laughed again, and in the utmost good humor.

"As I repeat, you're sprightly lads," he said, "and I don't mind a jest
that all three of us can enjoy. Now, for breakfast, and, truth to say,
we must take it cold. It will not do to light another fire."

They ate deer meat, drank water from a brook, and then, refreshed
greatly by their long rest, started at utmost speed for Fort Refuge,
keeping in the deepest shadows of the wilderness, eager to carry the
alarm to the garrison, and anxious to avoid any intervening foe. The day
was fortunate, no enemy appearing in their path, and they traveled many
miles, hope continually rising that they would reach the fort before a
cloud of besiegers could arrive.

Thus they continued their journey night and day, seeing many