They were made by unshod hoofs, but evidently they were two or three days old, and, after all, the riders might have passed on, not to return.
Smothering his anxiety as much as possible he went back to their little camp, crept between his two blankets which felt very warm, and began to watch with his eyes and ears, vowing to himself that he would not sleep.
Yet within two hours he slept.

Exhausted nature triumphed over will and claimed her own.

He was not conscious of any struggle.

He was awake and then he was not.

The two tethered horses, having eaten all they wanted, also settled themselves comfortably and slept.
But while the two, or rather the four slept, something was moving far out on the plain.
It was an immense black mass with a front of more than a mile, and it was coming toward Ned and Obed.