"Strike tents!" echoed through the camp from without.
"Had we not better wake the captain, Miss Alibamo? It may be the only chance he will get to say anything."
"He is moving—he wakes!"
Captain Hayward opened his eyes, and gazed around. His face while sleeping had worn a smile, but it had faded.
"Good morning, dear friends," said Hayward. "You have been watching with me all night, I fear."
"We have slept, however—that is, I have slept," answered Alibamo.
"I fear but little. You must not do this, Alibamo; you will sink under the fatigues you impose upon yourself. You will require all your strength. And have you slept, Nettleton?"
"Do you think I'd be such a darn skunk as to sleep when I might be doing something? No, I ain't quite so mean as that."
"What have you been doing?"
"Making up my mind—that's all."