midnight
As if even this were not enough to satisfy his barbarous companions , they attached an additional cord to his neck ; and this , when they lay down beside him to sleep , one of the young warriors wrapped several times round his own arm , so that the slightest movement of the prisoner , were such a thing possible , must instantly rouse the jealous savage from his slumbers . These preparations being completed , the young men lay down , one on each side of the prisoner , and were soon fast asleep . The old Piankeshaw , meanwhile , sat by the fire , now musing in drunken revery , -- `` in cogibundity of cogitation , '' -- now grumbling a lament for his perished son , which , by a natural licence of affliction , he managed to intermingle with regrets for his lost liquor , and occasionally heaping maledictions upon the heads of his wasteful companions , or soliciting the prisoner 's attention to an account , that he gave him at least six times over , of the peculiar ceremonies which would be observed in burning him , when once safely bestowed in the Piankeshaw nation . In this manner , the old savage , often nodding , but always rousing again , succeeded in amusing himself nearly half the night long ; and it was not until near midnight that he thought fit , after stirring up the fire , and adding a fresh log to it , to stretch himself beside one of the juniors , and grumble himself to sleep . A few explosive and convulsive snorts , such as might have done honour to the nostrils of a war-horse , marked the gradations by which he sank to repose ; then came the deep , long-drawn breath of mental annihilation , such as distinguished the slumber of his companions . To the prisoner , alone , sleep was wholly denied ; for which the renewed agonies of his bonds , tied with the supreme contempt for suffering which usually marks the conduct of savages to their captives , would have been sufficient cause , had there even been no superior pangs of spirit to banish the comforter from his eyelids . Of his feelings during the journey from the river , -- which , in consequence of numberless delays caused by the old Piankeshaw 's drunkenness , could scarce have been left more than eight or ten miles behind , -- we have said but little , since imagination can only picture them properly to the reader .