h would have small
value. There is no safer spot on all the lower river than this; if the
Dons discover it, no way of escape exists even were we all awake and
ready. To remain quiet is all we can do, and how can we accomplish
that better than by going to sleep? _Sacre_! I am a soldier, and not
apt to make light of a guard, yet," and he stifled a yawn, "I see no
necessity here, nor could I be more completely played after a night of
dancing at a Creole ball."

Thus the matter was agreed upon, not altogether to my liking, but I
yielded owing to too great weariness to argue. At first Madame
protested she could not sleep, yet finally consented to lie down. As
to myself my head had scarcely pressed the soft pillow of grass before
I was lost in slumber.

A blessing of youth lies in the fact that sleep then truly gives rest.
The tired body responds so thoroughly to the gentle touch of slumber
that the latter becomes a magician capable of restoring every faculty
to complete power. It was thus I rested motionless, and it was nearly
evening before I stirred, although the sun must have been streaming
directly across my upturned face for hours. I awoke to perfect
consciousness of our situation, as naturally as ever in a bed at home.
Dimly impressed that some unusual noise had aroused me, I immediately
sat upright. This change of posture brought my eyes on a level with
the tops of the cane on either side, and, my face being turned
southward, there was outspread before me the full, broad sweep of the
Mississippi, glinting under the westering sun, so that for a moment it
dazzled eyes yet clogged with the heaviness of sleep. Then I perceived
what afforded me so severe a shock that I ducked hastily down into my
covert, every faculty instantly alert. Close in against the reeds, as
though skirting the low line of the shore, loomed the black outline of
a large boat.

Coming bow on toward the place of our concealment, every eye in her
would naturally be scanning the spot where we lay hidden, and I durst
not raise my head again until assured they had passed by. I rolled
partially over to gain view of the others of our own party. Both were
slumbering heavily, Eloise near the western edge of the little grass
plot, wrapped within a great shawl so as to leave not even her head
visible, while De Noyan rested within easy reach of my outstretched
arm, breathing so heavily I felt it safer to arouse him, before that
strange boat shoul