“No, but I will, my man,” replied Brazier. “The French say that he who sleeps dines.”
“That’s true, sir,” said Shaddy, “on’y it’s disappointing when you wake. I’ve lain down to go to sleep lots of times like this, tired out and hungry, and dropped asleep directly; and as soon as I’ve been asleep I’ve begun to dream about eating all kinds of good things. It’s very nice in the dreaming, but it don’t keep up your courage.”
“There is nothing that we could possibly get to eat, is there, Shaddy,” said Rob,—“no berries nor fruit?”
“Couldn’t find ’em to-night, sir. In the morning I daresay I can get some berries; might manage a fish, too, to roast at daybreak.”
“But the ground! it is so damp,” said Rob.
“A few boughs will keep off the damp, Mr Rob, sir; so I say, let’s all sleep.”
“But oughtn’t we to keep watch in turns, Naylor?” said Brazier.
“In an ordinary way, sir, yes, one would say it’s a duty—what a man should do,” replied the guide gravely; “and I don’t deny there’s dangers about. But we’ve done all we can do, as men without weapons, by lighting that fire. I shall wake up now and then to throw on some branches and then lie down again. We can do no good more than we have done, and at a time like this I always think it is a man’s duty to say, ‘Can I do anything else?’ and, if he feels he can’t, just say his bit of prayer and leave it to One above to watch over him through the dark hours of the night.”
“Amen,” said Brazier solemnly, and half an hour after, a pile of freshly broken-off boughs had been laid near the fire, and all lay down in perfect faith and trust to sleep and wait for the next day.
Shaddy dropped off at once, while Brazier lay talking in a low tone to Rob, trying to instil some hopefulness.