Page:Barbour--Metipoms Hostage.djvu/151

Rh he waited for his jailer to sink more deeply in slumber. Ten minutes passed, and then, with only such sound as was caused by his  knees and toes on the gravel floor, he started  to creep toward the entrance. To reach it he must pass close to the Indian, for the latter  was near the middle of the cave, his form discernible against the faint light of the opening. He had not laid himself down, but had fallen asleep where he sat, his head fallen  forward on his chest.

A few inches at a time was all David dared attempt, ready to sink to the ground and pretend sleep at the first token of wakefulness  on the part of the savage. When he had brought himself to within arm’s reach of the  sleeper, the latter’s breathing broke in a mutter and the boy dropped to the floor and lay  very still. The Indian stirred, changed his position slightly, it seemed, and then, when a  long moment had passed, sank back to sleep. David’s heart was beating so hard and so fast that the sound of it, like the ticking of a  great clock, seemed to fill the cavern, and  he almost expected that the noise of it would  awaken the Indian.

At last he was well past and the ground sloped upward to the narrow crevice beyond