about midnight
Then Tayoga proposed that they make a fire and cook all of the deer . `` It seems that the risk here is not great , '' he said , `` and we may not have the chance later on . '' Robert , who still felt that they were protected and that for a day or two no harm could come to them under any circumstances , was more than willing , and they spent the remainder of the day in their culinary task . After dark he slept three hours , to be followed by Tayoga for the same length of time , and about midnight they started up the stream again , with their food cooked and ready beside them . Although the Onondaga shared Robert 's feeling that they were protected for the time , both exercised all their usual caution , believing thoroughly in the old saying that heaven helps those who help themselves . It was this watchfulness , particularly of ear , that caused them to hear the dip of paddles approaching up the stream . Softly and in silence , they lifted the canoe out of water and hid with it in the greenwood .