But as neither Robert nor Tayoga was busy they joined him, and all three sat near the brink with their rifles across their knees, and their pistols loosened in their belts, ready for their foes should they come in numbers.
They talked a while in low tones, and then fell silent.

The night had come, starless and moonless, favorable to the designs of Tandakora, but they felt intense satisfaction, nevertheless.

It was partly physical.

Robert's making of an easy road to the water, the coming of the pigeons, to be eaten, apparently sent by Areskoui, and the ease with which they believed they could hold their lofty fortress, combined to produce a victorious state of mind.

Robert looked over the brink once or twice at the steep slope, and he felt that the warriors would, in truth, be taking a mighty risk, if they came up that steep path against the three.
He and Tayoga, in the heavy darkness, depended, like Willet, chiefly on ear.