midnight
Captain Reynolds now felt convinced that they had fallen into the hands of some of Tecumseh 's scouts , through whom that vigilant leader kept himself continually informed of the enemy 's movements , if , peradventure , at some moment he might find them off their guard , either to be drawn into an ambuscade by day or surprised in camp by night . Unswervingly due north-east the night-marchers held their course for several miles , the warrior gliding on before them , like a gigantic specter there to lead them over the shadowy borders of another world . So it seemed to Burl , who felt his spirit strangely troubled within him whenever an opening through the forest , letting in the hazy glimmer of the moon , brought that huge bulk less vaguely before his eyes ; and once in particular , as they neared the summit of a big bald hill , when the warrior for an instant towered in lofty , dim relief against the starry sky . Toward midnight , the party descended from the upland forest into the valley of the Thames , and shortly afterward reached the Indian camp . Here the prisoners were placed in the custody of fresh keepers , and all lay down to rest , stretched out on the ground near one of the numerous camp-fires which , by this time burning low , shone like great glow-worms along the side of the valley . The dim light of another hazy October day was creeping chillily over those forest wilds , when a heavy hand shaking him roughly by the shoulder roused Big Black Burl from his slumbers . Scrambling to his feet , and drowsily looking around him through that foggy confusion of thought and perception through which sons of ebony after a sound sleep needs must pass in getting back to their waking senses , the black hunter caught a broad , vague view of something which made him fancy that he was still flat of his back on the ground and dreaming of the giant warrior who had led in the night-march .