An' when they light on me, I never move, nor even breathe fer about five minutes.

Then they take a notion I'm dead an' crawl off.

But sure, if I'd breathed I'd been a goner!" All of this was playfully intended for the extinction of an unoffending and impressionable tenderfoot.
With an admiring glance at my tormentors, I rolled out my sleeping-bag and crawled into it, vowing I would remain there even if devil-fish, armed with pikes, invaded our cave.
Late in the night I awoke.

The bottom of the canyon and the outer floor of our cave lay bathed in white, clear moonlight.

A dense, gloomy black shadow veiled the opposite canyon wall.