So saying, he laid his head in his saddle, and composed himself to sleep. In a short while, as if by an act of volition, he appeared to be in a profound slumber. With me it was different. Sleep was banished from my eyes, and I tossed about, with a throbbing pulse and a brain filled with fearful fancies. The very reaction from the bright dreams in which I had just been indulging rendered my apprehensions painfully active. I began to imagine scenes that might be enacting at that very moment: my betrothed struggling in the arms of some savage; for these southern Indians, I knew, possessed none of the chivalrous delicacy that characterise the red men of the "forest." I fancied her carried into a rude captivity; becoming the squaw of some brutal brave; and with the agony of the thought I rose to my feet and rushed out upon the prairie. Half-frantic, I wandered, not heeding whither I went. I must have walked for hours, but I took no note of the time. I strayed back upon the edge of the barranca. The moon was shining brightly, but the grim chasm, yawning away into the earth at my feet, lay buried in silence and darkness. My eye could not pierce its fathomless gloom. I saw the camp and the caballada far above me on the bank; but my strength was exhausted, and, giving way to my weariness, I sank down upon the very brink of the abyss. The keen torture that had hitherto sustained me was followed by a feeling of utter lassitude. Sleep conquered agony, and I slept. CHAPTER FORTY TWO. THE FOE. I must have slept an hour or more. Had my dreams been realities, they would have filled the measure of an age. At length the raw air of the morning chilled and awoke me. The moon had gone down, for I remembered that she was close to the horizon when I last saw her. Still it was far from being dark, for I could see to a considerable distance through the fog. "Perhaps the day is breaking," thought I, and I turned my face to the east. It was as I had guessed: the eastern sky was streaked with light; it was morning. I knew it was the intention of Seguin to start early, and I was about summoning resolution to raise myself when voices broke on my ear. There were short, exclamatory phrases, and hoof-strokes upon the prairie turf. "They are up, and preparing to start." With this thought, I leaped to my feet, and commenced hurrying towards the camp. I had not walked ten paces when I became conscious that the voices were behind me! I stopped and listened. Yes; beyond a doubt I was going from them. "I have mistaken the way to the camp!" and I stepped forward to the edge of the barranca for the purpose of assuring myself. What was my astonishment to find that I had been going in the right direction, and that the sounds were coming from the opposite quarter. My first thought was that the band had passed me, and were moving on the route. "But no; Seguin would not. Oh! he has sent of a party to search for me: it is they."