midnight
The Shawnees seemed to imagine that the bonds of the prisoners were secure , and that there was no possibility of their escape . In fact , Leland had no hopes of release . Had his hands been free , he might have ventured to do something ; but at present they were as useless as if he were deprived altogether of those members . It was fully an hour beyond midnight , when , in spite of his situation , Leland began to yield to the fatigue of the day . His head drooped upon his breast , and he started fitfully . It is at such times as these that the nervous system seems to be most fully alive to what is passing . The prisoner was just in this state of mind when his attention was arrested by a sound no louder than the murmuring wind above him -- so low , indeed , that it would have escaped his attention altogether , had it not been of a character different from that monotonous moaning .