Though we believed we
had nothing to fear from our prisoners, the two first being bound hand
and foot, and the two last being too weak to move, we nevertheless
resolved that a watch should be kept, and as Gabriel and I had not slept
during the night before, we appointed Roche to keep the first watch.
When I awoke, I felt chilly, and to my astonishment I perceived that our
fire was down. I rose and looked immediately for the prisoners. The two
that we had put within our circle were still snoring heavily, but the
others, whose feet we had not bound on account of their painful bruises,
were gone. I looked for the watch, and found that it was one of the
lawyers, who, having drank too freely of the whisky, had fallen asleep.
The thieves had left the blanket; I touched it; I perceived that it was
yet warm, so that I knew they could not have been gone a long while.
The day was just breaking, and I awoke my companions, the lawyer was
much ashamed of himself, and offered the humblest apologies, and as a
proof of his repentance, he poured on the ground the remainder of the
liquor in his flask. As soon as Gabriel and Roche were up, we searched
in the grass for the foot-prints, which we were not long in finding, and
which conducted us straight to the place where we had left our horses
loose and grazing.
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