one
after one
I heard the whisperers cease and separate . I heard their boots as they cast them off upon the ground . And I heard the breathing of slumber begin and grow in the interior silence . To one after one sleep came , but not to me . Outside , the dull fall of the rain beat evenly , and in some angle dripped the spouting pulses of a leak . Sometimes a cold air blew in , bearing with it the keen wet odor of the sage-brush . On hundreds of other nights this perfume had been my last waking remembrance ; it had seemed to help drowsiness ; and now I lay staring , thinking of this .