Bob clutched at Frank, but the other wriggled out of his grasp.
“My idea,” he said, “is to take a plunge in the channel your father crossed, Jack. I’m hot and sticky and tired, and a swim would go fine just before I turn in and leave Bob on watch. What do you say?”
“So I’m to have the first watch, hey?” said Bob. “It’s been all decided, has it? Well, well. All right, run along, Frankie, me lad. I’m not so anxious for a swim. I’ll just start my watch here and now.”
“Bob, you’re a good sport,” said Frank, throwing an arm over the shoulders of his big chum, between whom and himself was a depth of feeling which seldom was expressed in words.
“Oh, run along and take your swim.”
Bob playfully shoved the pair of them down the hill. Laughing, they obeyed. As they disappeared among the trees, Bob selected a spot at the base of a spruce on the top of the knoll, sat down with the glasses in his lap and his eyes on the westward shore of the lake, where Lupo’s half-breeds had last been seen, and prepared to keep watch. His back was against the trunk of the tree, and he made himself as comfortable as possible.
It was a really comfortable position and, when one is tired and sitting idle, a comfortable position is conducive to drowsiness. It was so with Bob. He had had but little sleep in the last two days. He had worked hard. The air was warm and drowsy, as only the air of the short hot Summer of the north country, when the sun never sets, can be. Presently his head began to nod, and there was a buzzing in his ears as of the drowsy hum of bees. He caught himself, and sat bolt upright, rubbing his eyes vigorously with his fists. Then he leaned back against the tree trunk again, and again began to nod. This time, the jerk with which he awakened was longer in coming.
Bob got up and stretched.
“Mustn’t go to sleep,” he reflected. “Nothing in sight, though. Not much use to worry. Ho, hum.”
He resumed his seat. Imperceptibly, his eyes drifted shut. He sat through the transition period between sleeping and waking, unaware that he was yielding to slumber, merely pleasantly conscious of relaxed limbs and thoughts. Before he was aware his head nodded, his eyes closed, his chin touched his chest, and he slept.