nearly midnight before
`` Please read God 's Word to me , '' said the Indian . `` I love to hear it . '' Donald gladly did as he was requested , his companion occasionally asking him questions . It was nearly midnight before the Indian rose to return to his own camp , promising to come back in the morning with some of his people to convey Alec to the river . Soon after daybreak , he appeared with a litter , which he had had constructed , and a supply of food , in case , as he said , his white brother might require it . Alec had been for some time awake . He did not appear surprised when the Indians arrived .