Trouble was asleep almost as soon as he had been tucked in on the comfortable auto seat, and Janet was not far behind him in journeying to slumberland.
But to Ted, out in the tent with his father and his mother, sleep did not come so quickly. The little boy pretended he was a cowboy, sleeping out on the plains, with a big herd of cattle near by.
Perhaps his lively thoughts kept Ted awake. At any rate, something did; but at last he, too, closed his eyes and was soon fast asleep.
Just how long it was afterward he did not know. But he was suddenly awakened by feeling something touch him on the side. It was as though some one had “punched him in the ribs,” Ted said afterward.
The little fellow opened his eyes and murmured:
“Is it morning, Mother?”
He imagined it was his mother rousing him by shaking him, as she sometimes did.
His mother did not answer. Then Teddy saw that the tent was dark. The sun was not streaming in. But through a crack the lad caught sight of a distant star. He knew it was still night.
But something had awakened him by touching him on the side. He raised himself on his elbow and listened. He could tell, by the deep, regular breathing of his father and mother that they were sleeping soundly on their cots.
Then from the outside of the tent something reached in and gave Teddy such a blow that he was knocked back on his cot.