“What’s the matter with you getting some sleep?” Jack asked.
“I spoke first.”
“Injun watch. Him no sleepy. White boys go get sleep.”
They refused at first but finally, seeing that the old Indian really wished them to consent, they yielded, but only after he had promised to call them in two hours.
They crept back a few yards and found a soft spot beneath the limbs of a huge pine and in less than a minute both were fast asleep. It seemed to Bob that he had just closed his eyes when he was awakened by a touch on his arm.
“Two hours gone,” Kernertok whispered.
“All right,” he answered sleepily, “but don’t wake Jack. There’s no need of both of us being awake.”
Kernertok grunted approval and threw himself on the ground while Bob crept forward until he was lying behind the bush. It was not absolutely dark for the sky was filled with stars although there was no moon. He could barely make out the outline of the hill as he peered through the bush. Slowly the minutes passed and he found it hard work to keep awake. But he knew that it would be only a little more than an hour to dawn and he resolutely fought off the desire to sleep. Once he thought he heard a movement near the cave but, although he strained his eyes, he could see nothing suspicious and he concluded that he had been mistaken. Of course he did not dare to use his flash light.
In spite of his resolve to keep awake he must have dozed off for suddenly he realized that the darkness had nearly gone.
“I’m a good one to put on watch,” he thought thoroughly angered at himself.