Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/168

 bidding; and if, perchance, they should be wakeful at an unseasonable moment, they always sit upon their haunches, and leaning their elbows on their knees, consume the tedious hours in smoking. My peril would be great: accidents which I could not foresee, and over which I had no command, might occur, to awaken some one at the moment I was passing the fire: should I pass in safety, I might issue forth into a wilderness of which I had no knowledge, where I might wander till I perished with famine, or where my footsteps might be noted and pursued, and overtaken by these implacable foes. These perils were enormous and imminent: but I likewise considered that I might be at no great distance from the habitations of men, and that my escape might rescue them from the most dreadful calamities. I determined to make this dangerous experiment without delay.

I came nearer to the aperture, and had consequently a larger view of this recess. To my unspeakable dismay, I now caught a glimpse of one, seated at the fire: his back was turned towards me, so that I could distinctly survey his gigantic form and fantastic ornaments.

My project was frustrated. This one was probably commissioned to watch and to awaken his companions when a due portion of sleep had been taken: that he would not be unfaithful or remiss in the performance of the part assigned to him, was easily predicted: to pass him without exciting his notice, and the entrance could not otherwise be reached, was impossible. Once more I shrunk back, and revolved with hopelessness and anguish the necessity to which I was reduced.

This interval of dreary foreboding did not last long. Some motion in him that was seated by the fire attracted my notice: I looked, and beheld him rise from his place and go forth from the cavern. This unexpected incident led my thoughts into a new channel. Could not some advantage be taken of his absence? Could not this opportunity be seised for making my escape? He had left his gun and hatchet on the ground: it was likely, therefore, that he had not gone far, and would speedily return. Might not these weapons be seised, and some provision be thus