dings, soon sank into those slumbers which
nature so imperiously demanded, and which were sweetened by hopes for
the morrow. Duncan had prepared himself to pass the night in
watchfulness near them, just without the ruin, but the scout, perceiving
his intention, pointed towards Chingachgook, as he coolly disposed his
own person on the grass, and said--

"The eyes of a white man are too heavy and too blind for such a watch as
this! The Mohican will be our sentinel, therefore let us sleep."

"I proved myself a sluggard on my post during the past night," said
Heyward, "and have less need of repose than you, who did more credit to
the character of a soldier. Let all the party seek their rest, then,
while I hold guard."

"If we lay among the white tents of the 60th, and in front of an enemy
like the French, I could not ask for a better watchman," returned the
scout; "but in the darkness and among the signs of the wilderness your
judgment would be like the folly of a child, and your vigilance thrown
away. Do then, like Uncas and myself, sleep, and sleep in safety."

Heyward perceived, in truth, that the younger Indian had thrown his form
on the side of the hillock while they were talking, like one who sought
to make the most of the time allotted to rest, and that his example had
been followed by David, whose voice literally "clove to his jaws," with
the fever of his wound, heightened, as it was, by their toilsome march.
Unwilling to prolong a useless discussion, the young man affected to
comply, by posting his back against the logs of the block-house, in a
half-recumbent posture, though resolutely determined, in his own mind,
not to close an eye until he had delivered his precious charge into the
arms of Munro himself. Hawkeye, believing he had prevailed, soon fell
asleep, and a silence as deep as the solitude in which they had found
it, pervaded the retired spot.

For many minutes Duncan succeeded in keeping his senses on the alert,
and alive to every moaning sound that arose from the forest. His vision
became more acute as the shades of evening settled on the place; and
even after the stars were glimmering above his head, he was able to
distinguish the recumbent forms of his companions, as they lay stretched
on the grass, and to note the person of Chingachgook, who sat upright
and motionless as one of the trees which formed the dark barrier on
every side. He still heard the gentle breathings of the sisters, who lay
with