therefore,
and all but the sentinels disposed themselves to sleep.
    Sufficient care was had to the safe keeping of the captive, without
inflicting on him any unnecessary suffering, and, as for Hetty, she was
permitted to find a place among the Indian girls, in the best manner she could.
She did not find the friendly offices of Hist, though her character not only
bestowed impunity from pain and captivity, but it procured for her a
consideration and an attention that placed her, on the score of comfort quite on
a level with the wild but gentle beings around her. She was supplied with a
skin, and made her own bed on a pile of boughs a little apart from the huts.
Here she was soon in a profound sleep, like all around her.
    There were now thirteen men in the party, and three kept watch at a time.
One remained in shadow, not far from the fire, however. His duty was to guard
the captive, to take care that the fire neither blazed up so as to illuminate
the spot, nor yet became wholly extinguished, and to keep an eye generally on
the state of the camp. Another passed from one beach to the other, crossing the
base of the point, while the third kept moving slowly around the strand on its
outer extremity, to prevent a repetition of the surprise that had already taken
place that night. This arrangement was far from being usual among savages, who
ordinarily rely more on the secrecy of their movements, than on vigilance of
this nature, but it had been called for by the peculiarity of the circumstances
in which the Hurons were now placed. Their position was known to their foes, and
it could not easily be changed at an hour, which demanded rest. Perhaps, too,
they placed most of their confidence on the knowledge of what they believed to
be passing higher up the lake, and which, it was thought, would fully occupy the
whole of the pale-faces, who were at liberty, with their solitary Indian ally.
It was also probable Rivenoak was aware, that, in holding his captive, he had in
his own hands the most dangerous of all his enemies.
    The precision with which those, accustomed to watchfulness, or lives of
disturbed rest, sleep, is not the least of the phenomena of our mysterious
being. The head is no sooner on the pillow, than consciousness is lost, and yet,
at a necessary hour, the mind appears to arouse the body, as promptly as if it
had stood sentinel over it the while. There can be no doubt that