He was not in the least lonesome, although the night had fully come, and heavy darkness lay like a black robe over the forest.
He stretched out his moccasined toes to the fire, closed his eyes for a moment or two, and a dreamy look of satisfaction rested on his face.

It seemed to the shiftless one that he lay in the very lap of luxury, in the very best of worlds.
But when he opened his eyes again he continued to watch the forest, or rather he watched with his ears now, as he lay close to the earth, and his hearing, at all times, was so acute that it seemed to border upon instinct or divination.

But no sound save the usual ones of the forest and the night came to him, and he remained quite still, thinking.
Shif'less Sol Hyde was in an exalted mood, and the flickering firelight showed a face refined and ennobled by a great purpose.

Leading a life that made him think little of hardship and danger he thought nothing at all of them now, but he felt instead a great buoyancy, and a hope equally great.
He lay awake a full three hours after the dark had come, and he rose only twice from his reclining position, each time merely to replenish the fire which remained a red core in the circling blackness.

Always he was listening and always he heard nothing but the usual sounds of the forest and the night.