midnight
Then he made off under cover of the darkness , and saw Indian fires both to the right and to the left of him . He passed so close to the one on his right that he heard the warriors singing the song of plenty , indicating that the day had yielded them rich store of deer and buffalo . Most of the Indians were not delicate feeders and they would probably eat until they could eat no more , then , lying in a stupor by the fire , they would sleep until morning . He did not stop until after midnight , and slept again in the protection of a steep hill , advancing the next day through a country that seemed to swarm with warriors evidently taking advantage of the weather to refill the wigwams , which must have become bare of food . Henry , knowing that his danger had been tripled , advanced very slowly now , traveling usually by night and lying in some close covert by day . His own supplies of food fell very low , but at night , at the edge of a stream , he shot a deer that came down to drink , and carried away the best portions of the body . He took the risk because he believed that if the Indians heard the shot they would think it was fired by one of their own number , or at least would think so long enough for him to escape with his new and precious supplies .