That long night would never be forgotten, though they lived to an old age. Little sleep visited Dick's eyes. This came partly from his sense of hunger, but also on account of the serious condition that confronted them.
Their long quest seemed to have been wrecked on the rocks, and that after success had appeared to crown their efforts, which made it all the harder to bear. Although Dick would not appear downcast while Roger could see his face, he had numerous doubts to wrestle with in the silence of the night, and secretly groaned in spirit many times.
During his wakeful hours he often caught the distant howling of a wolf pack. This coming of the first deep snow of the winter would make their task of securing daily food the more difficult, and it seemed to the listener that there was an additional mournfulness to those long-drawn sounds.
Once he also caught the scream of some other beast in the pine woods. Although it was not repeated, Dick believed it must have come from a panther seeking his prey amidst the snowy aisles of the forest.
Mayhew, too, must have been wakeful, for several times when Dick happened to be dozing he arose and threw more wood on the fire.
When the stars told Dick morning was at hand he felt as though a terrible load had been taken from his mind. With ten hours of daylight before them they must surely be able to obtain meat and satisfy their craving for food.
While the other two were sitting cross-legged by the fire, and talking in low tones, Roger suddenly sat up. He stared hard at them, and dug his knuckles into his eyes, as though he could not believe what he saw.
Dick knew from the indications that he must have been far away in his sleep, and that the disappointment struck him cruelly.
"So, it was all a dream after all, and mother was not calling me to get up or the griddle cakes would be cold?" Roger remarked, dolefully. "Oh, how fine they used to taste, with that wild honey smeared over them! Do you remember the time when we brought in four heaping buckets of honey from that bee-tree up on Juniper Creek, and how my left eye was closed by a sting? But never was there such sweet stuff. And to think that we have to go without a bite of breakfast this cold morning!"