Ramayana 1.128

That conquering pair, of royal race, Skilled to observe due time and place, To Kusik's hermit son addressed, In timely words, their meet request: "When must we, lord, we pray thee tell, Those Rovers of the Night repel? Speak, lest we let the moment fly, And pass the due occasion by." Thus longing for the strife, they prayed, And thus the hermits answer made: "Till the fifth day be come and past, O Raghu's sons, your watch must last. The saint his Diksha(170) has begun, And all that time will speak to none." Soon as the steadfast devotees Had made reply in words like these, The youths began, disdaining sleep, Six days and nights their watch to keep. The warrior pair who tamed the foe, Unrivalled benders of the bow, Kept watch and ward unwearied still To guard the saint from scathe and ill. 'Twas now the sixth returning day, The hour foretold had past away. Then Rama cried: "O Lakshman, now Firm, watchful, resolute be thou. The fiends as yet have kept afar From the pure grove in which we are: Yet waits us, ere the day shall close, Dire battle with the demon foes."