Steve solemnly promised to remember.  He knew the danger of handling firearms in a reckless fashion, and was not likely to offend.  So presently, with Bandy-legs in tow, he went forth to resume their interrupted vigil.

Max and Roland sat there by the resurrected fire for a short time exchanging remarks.  The prisoner lay on the floor and, as far as they could tell, seemed to have given up all hope of a rescue, for his heavy breathing was that of one whom sleep had overtaken.

Finally, Max pointed toward Toby, who could be seen lying on his back in his bunk, and evidently enjoying a fine time in dreamland.

“We’d do well to imitate his example, Roland,” he remarked.  “And as a last word I want to tell you again how delighted we all are over finding you; not only that, but discovering that you’ve been busy all these months.  Your aunt is worrying her head off about you.  The last words she said were:  ’If only you do find, the boy, and he’s made a mess of his attempt to win his inheritance, tell him Aunt Sarah has a place in her heart for him, and that if only he’ll come back he can be her boy for keeps, because I find that I’ve grown to love him as my own.’”

Roland appeared to be deeply affected when he heard this, for he winked violently a good many times, and then, smiling, managed to say: 

“You don’t know how happy you make me when you tell that, Max; for she’s a dear old soul, and I certainly do care for her a great deal.  But it pleases me also to know I’ve made good, and that I can hold up my head when I show those trustees what I’ve done.  The Chase family needn’t blush just yet on account of Roland, though it ought to for Robert’s mean actions.”

So they, too, sought their beds, such as these were, and tried to forget all else in sweet sleep.

Max had a peculiar habit.  Almost any boy can acquire it through much practice, and sometimes it comes in very handy.  He was able to impress it upon his mind that he wanted to awaken at about a certain time.  Once in a long while this might fail him; but nine times out of ten he could hit it in a most surprising manner.  Many persons have proved this perfectly feasible; and although Max began it as an experiment of the control of mind over matter, it had long since passed that stage, and become a regular habit with him.

Accordingly, in just an hour after Steve and Bandy-legs had gone forth again, Max was out of his bunk, and arousing Toby, who got up rather loth to abandon his good bed and pleasant dreams.  Still, he made no complaint, unless his frequent yawns could be counted as such, but trotted at the heels of Max when the other started forth.

The night remained calm.  High overhead the gentle breeze still sighed among the pines, and whispered secrets as it passed through the fragrant green needles with their attendant cones.

Max took a single glance aloft at the star-studded heavens, and this told him pretty close on the hour; for in addition to many other ways of the forest nomad and believer in woodcraft, Max had mastered the positions of the planets, so that it was always possible for him to gauge the passage of time when the night granted him a survey of the constellations above.