its source. But this grew wearisome at last, and he leaned back
against a tree, looking out upon the moonlit valley beyond, where
nothing as yet had caught his eye that looked in the least suspicious,
and where everything still appeared as silent as a graveyard.

"I don't believe there are any Indians within fifty miles," he
muttered, impatiently; "and yet we must have three or four men on the
look-out till morning. Well, I s'pose it's the only safe thing to do,
and I'm bound to stick it out till one o'clock. It must be near
midnight now, and if Mickey should come around here, an hour from now,
and find me asleep, I never would hear the last of it."

He felt very much like sitting down upon the ground, but he knew if he
did that he would be sure to fall asleep, while, as long as he kept
his feet, he was sure to retain his senses. When disposed to become
too drowsy, a sudden giving away at the knees recalled him so
vigorously, that it was a considerable time before the drowsiness
crept over him again.

Thus the night advanced, until all at once, Fred aroused himself as if
a sharp pin had been thrust in him.

"By George! I heard something then!" he exclaimed, in an excited
undertone, looking sharply about him; "but I don't know where it came
from."

His impression was that it came from some point directly before him
out on the open space; but the most rigid scrutiny failed to reveal
the cause. There was the level stretch of grass, unbroken by stone or
shrub, but nothing that could be tortured into the remotest