Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/168

 pouring from the edge of the cabin roof and streaming down the windows, and with the  flooded creek still thundering in the ravine below. Every minute that passed brought nearer the possible return of Half-Breed Jake, since, so  Hugh began to think, he must certainly be the  one to come first. More than once he thought he heard steps outside and felt of his revolver to  be ready for whatever might come, but each time  it proved to be a false alarm. Finally he sat down at the table, facing the door, and laid his  revolver before him, to wait as best he could. He had risen very early the morning that Oscar had gone away alone—was it a day or a week  ago? At least he knew that he had slept very little since and that he must, at all costs, keep  awake now. Yet slowly his head began to nod, to droop further toward the table; finally it rested  on his arms and he was asleep.

It was the deepest of slumbers into which he had fallen, yet he came out of it with a suddenness that left him dazed. Nicholas was leaping at the door, barking loudly to herald some one's