noon
By persuasions and a little pushing he got his delighted companion on to his couch again , and heaped the straw over him to serve as a blanket . De Catinat was wearied out by the excitements of the day , and this last great reaction seemed to have absorbed all his remaining strength . His lids drooped heavily over his eyes , his head sank deeper into the soft straw , and his last remembrance was that the tireless American was seated cross-legged in the moonlight , working furiously with his long knife upon one of the billets of wood . So weary was the young guardsman that it was long past noon , and the sun was shining out of a cloudless blue sky , before he awoke . For a moment , enveloped as he was in straw , and with the rude arch of the dungeon meeting in four rough-hewn groinings above his head , he stared about him in bewilderment . Then in an instant the doings of the day before , his mission , the ambuscade , his imprisonment , all flashed back to him , and he sprang to his feet . His comrade , who had been dozing in the corner , jumped up also at the first movement , with his hand on his knife , and a sinister glance directed towards the door .