As Soon, However, As The Night Had Completely Set
In, They Left Their Fire Blazing; Walked Quietly Among The
Willows, And Then Leaping Into Their Saddles, Made Off As
Noiselessly As Possible.
In proportion as they left the point of
danger behind them, they relaxed in their rigid and anxious
taciturnity,
And began to joke at the expense of their enemy;
whom they pictured to themselves mousing in the neighborhood of
their deserted fire, waiting for the proper time of attack, and
preparing for a grand disappointment.
About midnight, feeling satisfied that they had gained a secure
distance, they posted one of their number to keep watch, in case
the enemy should follow on their trail, and then, turning
abruptly into a dense and matted thicket of willows, halted for
the night at the foot of the mountain, instead of making for the
summit, as they had originally intended.
A trapper in the wilderness, like a sailor on the ocean, snatches
morsels of enjoyment in the midst of trouble, and sleeps soundly
when surrounded by danger. The little party now made their
arrangements for sleep with perfect calmness; they did not
venture to make a fire and cook, it is true, though generally
done by hunters whenever they come to a halt, and have
provisions. They comforted themselves, however, by smoking a
tranquil pipe; and then calling in the watch, and turning loose
the horses, stretched themselves on their pallets, agreed that
whoever should first awake, should rouse the rest, and in a
little while were all as sound asleep as though in the midst of a
fortress.
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