CHAPTER XV
"THE ALCOVE"
They arrived at the fort as evening was coming on, and as soon as
food was served to them the five sought sleep. The frontiersmen
usually slept soundly and for a long time after prodigious
exertions, and Henry and his comrades were too wise to make an
exception. They secured a single room inside the fort, one given
to them gladly, because Mary Newton had already spread the fame
of their exploits, and, laying aside their hunting shirts and
leggins, prepared for rest.
"Jim," said Shif'less Sol, pointing to a low piece of furniture,
flat and broad, in one corner of the room, "that's a bed. Mebbe
you don't think it, but people lay on top o' that an' sleep
thar."
Long Jim grinned.
"Mebbe you're right, Sol," he said. "I hev seen sech things ez
that, an' mebbe I've slep' on 'em, but in all them gran' old
tales Paul tells us about I never heard uv no big heroes sleepin'
in beds. I guess the ground wuz good 'nough for A-killus,
Hector, Richard-Kur-de-Leong, an' all the rest uv that fightin'
crowd, an' ez I'm that sort uv a man myself I'll jest roll down
here on the floor. Bein' as you're tender, Sol Hyde, an' not
used to hard life in the woods, you kin take that bed yourself,
an' in the mornin' your wally will be here with hot water in a
silver mug an' a razor to shave you, an' he'll dress you in a
ruffled red silk shirt an' a blue satin waistcoat, an' green
satin breeches jest comin' to the knee, where they meet yellow
silk stockin's risin' out uv purple satin slippers, an' then
he'll clap on your head a big wig uv snow-white hair, fallin' all
about your shoulders an' he'll buckle a silver sword to your
side, an' he'll say: "Gentlemen, him that hez long been known ez
Shif'less Sol, an' desarvin' the name, but who in reality is the
King o' France, is now before you.
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