If you will kindly give me a rifle and ammunition I shall be ready for the emergency." "But it is your time to sleep, Mr.Roylston," said the Panther.
"I don't think I can sleep, and as I cannot I might as well be of use." The Panther brought him the rifle, powder and bullets, and Roylston, leaning against the tree, rifle across his knees, watched with bright eyes.

Sentinels were placed at the edge of the grove, but the Panther and Ned, as arranged, were on the high bank overlooking the bed of the creek.

Now and then they walked back and forth, meeting at intervals, but most of the time each kept to his own particular part of the ground.
Ned found an oak, blown down on the bank by some hurricane, and as there was a comfortable seat on a bough with the trunk as a rest for his back he remained there a long time.

But his ease did not cause him to relax his vigilance.

He was looking toward the north, and he could see two hundred yards or more up the creek bed to a point where it curved.