"It's a loose piece of the rock, which I chanced upon. I laid it in front of me across my line of vision to rest my gun upon. That gives me an easy position, while I have a good breast-work."
"But don't you have to look over the line of protection, so as to keep good watch?" asked Maggie.
"There must be a certain amount of danger, no matter how well we are protected."
But there was one fact which Mr. Brainerd, with all his forethought, failed to take note of: his anxiety was so great that he believed he could do without sleep for a week, and yet he should have known that if he undertook to lie down on his face and keep watch, no solicitude nor effort of the will could keep him awake.
The only recourse is that of continual motion, as is the case with the sailor on watch or the sentinel on guard at night.
In fact, no posture could have been more wooing to the gentle goddess that steals away our senses ere we are aware.
The females, as Mr. Brainerd had suggested, withdrew to the rear of the cavern, placing themselves at one side where no bullet could reach them, unless fired from the mass of rocks that the father was watching with such close attention.
Habakkuk McEwen, located near them, attempted a conversation, but no one showed any disposition to take part, and Aunt Peggy invited him so energetically to keep quiet that he complied.
As Mr. Brainerd lay extended on the flat, rocky floor of the cavern, with his gun cocked and pointed outward, he asked himself more than one question which he could not answer.
Looking as hopefully as he might at the situation, he saw no ground for encouragement.