noon
It was in the mind of the shiftless one that he too would like to go into that vast unknown North some day , if the fighting in Kentucky ever came to an end . He had been in the land of the Shawnees and Miamis , and Wyandots and he knew of the Great Lakes beyond , but north of them the wilderness still stretched to the edge of the world , where the polar ice reigned , eternal . There was no limit to the imagination of Shif ` less Sol , and in all these gigantic wanderings the faithful four , his friends , were with him . Henry did not awaken until well after noon , but as usual his awakening was instantaneous , that is , all his faculties were keenly alert at once . He glanced down the valley and saw the buffalo and deer feeding , and the great chorus of birds was going on . The shiftless one , leaning against his bank of leaves , his rifle on his knee , was regarding the valley with an air of proprietorship . `` What 's happened while I slept ? ''