At nine o’clock in the morning，I awoke. Iwas breathing hard，and Alan had put his hand overmy mouth. His face was anxious.
“Be quie t！”he whispered. He pointed over theedge of the rock.
It was now bright day，and very hot . Half amile up the river there was a soldiers’camp. A bigfire was burning，and they were cooking food. Nearby，on another high rock，a sentry stood. I saw othersentries marching up and down all over the valley.
At the top end there were horse - soldiers，too.
I looked once，and dropped quickly into thehollow again.
“You s e e ，Da vid ，I wa s right，”Alan said. “Ithoug ht the y mus t wa tch the rive r . The y came twohours a go. We ’re in a na rrow pla ce . If the y go up thehill - s ide ，the y ma y s e e us . If the y s ta y down in theva lle y，we ma y b e s a fe . Whe n night come s ，we mus tmove .”
吧，小夥子，我來放哨。”
石頭頂部那個凹進去的地方有點土，長著一些羊齒植物，我躺在上麵，睡著了。
早晨九點鍾，我醒了。睡覺時我的鼾聲很大，所以艾倫一隻手捂著我的嘴。我看見他憂心忡忡。
他用手指往石頭的邊緣一指，輕聲對我說；“靜一點！”
這時，陽光燦爛，天氣很熱。河上遊半英裏的地方紮起一個士兵的營地。他們圍著一堆熊熊大火，在做飯吃。在附近的另一塊大石頭上站著一名哨兵。我看到山穀中到處都有士兵來回巡邏，最遠處還有騎兵。
我隻望了一眼，便急忙縮回身子，躺在凹槽裏。
艾倫說；“你看，大衛，我沒有說錯。我早就認為他們要監視這條河的。他們是兩個小時以前趕到的。
咱們這地塊方很窄。他們要是上到山坡，就能發現我們。他們要是隻待在山穀裏，我們倒可以安然無事。
天一黑，我們就得離開。”
“And wha t sha ll we do till night？”I asked.
“Lie he re ，”he said，“a nd burn.”
“那麼天黑以前咱們怎麼辦呢？”我問道。
“躺在這兒，捱烤。”他說。