"They are beginning to show signs of getting drowsy," Dick assured him. "Already several have curled up in their blankets, and seem to be fast asleep. Here comes the Frenchman to take a last look at us before he follows them into dreamland." "Oh! be careful that he may not learn of the trick you played with your bonds!" Roger whispered, in sudden alarm lest the crafty trader make a discovery that would destroy the hope they were hugging to their hearts. "Leave that to me, for I feel sure I can deceive him, even if he tries my bonds to see how secure they are," Dick assured him. Apparently Lascelles was very sleepy, for he yawned several times as he felt of the thongs, to see how they had been tied by the brave to whom the task had been delegated. "Eet is too bad zat you haf to stand all ze night," he told the boys; "but eet cannot be helped. Eet is ze fortune of war. Ven boys try to play ze part of men zey must take ze good wif ze bad. In ze morning, unless ze storm delay us, we vill hope to reach ze uzzer camp, and then you see heem." He walked away after delivering himself of these few remarks. The boys knew very well who was meant by "heem," for it could only refer to Jasper Williams. "That sounds as if he has Jasper, sure enough," remarked Roger, when they once more were by themselves. "Yes, and if we get away from here it must be our duty to free him. We did it once before, you remember; and what was next door to a miracle then can happen again."[5] When another half-hour had crept around, conditions in the Indian camp had undergone a decided change. There had been no sentry set that the boys observed, and Dick had counted the Indians many times to make sure that all were around the fire. They lay sprawled in such postures as their fancy dictated. Some had their backs against the trunks of trees, while others extended themselves at full length on the ground. One and all seemed to be sound asleep. Acting upon the advice of Dick, both of the boys had assumed an attitude calculated to deceive any one who might be sending an occasional glance in their direction, and make it appear as though they, too, had yielded to the demands of the slumber god. "Is it time yet, Dick?" whispered Roger for the third time, when it seemed as if his blood had almost stopped circulating on account of the tight bonds, and he doubted his ability to use his legs, even if set free. "Wait a little longer," he was told, in the same cautious tone, which, if heard at all, would be considered but the murmur of the cool night breeze in the nodding pine-tops. The half-hour lengthened to a full one; and even this was now growing, until it must soon measure a second hour. Roger could not stand it much longer. He felt as though something within him would burst unless he could make a move of some sort.