The child called to him, and he came to the bunk-side at once, and lowering his long, beautiful neck, laid his beak across her neck. This was ’Rallie’s way of showing affection.
Then he went slowly and sadly away to the other end of the cabin, and “trussed” himself in a corner.
Tandy stopped for two whole hours with Nelda. She promised to be very good, and not to cry, even if the bad men did come back again.
Then she fell soundly asleep, holding her father’s finger.
He kissed her now and quietly left the cabin, and Janeira herself slipped in and took the camp-stool Tandy had just vacated.
The fire was by this time a long distance away, only the trees that had not been destroyed stood at one moment like black spectres in the starlight, but like rugged pillars of crimson and gold when a puff of wind swept through the woods.
Waiting and watching! Ah, what a weary thing it is! Hours and hours passed by, and if the men of this little garrison slept at all, it was on the bare ground, and with only their elbows for pillows.
But not until far on in the morning watch did the enemy show signs of activity, or give a single token of their presence.
The fire was now too far back for the crackling of the flames to be heard, though its red glare and the cloud of rolling smoke that obscured the sky told that it was still blazing fiercely. The sea-birds had gone to rest once more in the rocks, and everything around the encampment was as silent as the grave. A dread silence—a stillness like that which precedes the outbreaking of some fearful storm!
And all too soon the storm burst.