This struggle between sleep and watchfulness at length came to a close.
In less than ten minutes after taking the draught, both lay stretched along the floor in a deep death-like slumber.
The backwoodsman lost no more time.
With an agile motion, he planted his feet in the interstices of the logs, and reached the window.
A slight wrenching of the bars showed the skill with which they had been sawn asunder.
One after another gave way, and the whole framework was in his hands.
He was on the point of dropping it gently, when outside, under the window, a human form appeared.
It was that of an Indian!