d learn and learn fast!" exclaimed
Tayoga. "He has in him the spirit of the forester, and, in time, he
will make a great trailer. I have observed the birds, Red Coat, and
your conclusion is correct. Sharp Sword's force did not pause to cook
breakfast or even to eat it at the camp, but they took it as they
walked along swiftly, dropping shreds of flesh or grains of hominy
or bones picked clean as they walked. The birds have come to feast on
their leavings. Doubtless, they have eaten all already and are merely
hunting for more that does not exist. It is strange that no prowling
wolf has come. Ah, I see the nose of one now in the thicket! Sharp
Sword and his force cannot be very far ahead, and we shall have to be
very cautious how we proceed."

"I think it likely," said Willet, "that Tandakora and his band will
join him soon. If he is intending an attack upon us somewhere he will
want to mass his full strength for it."

"Tandakora will join him before he makes his next camp," said Tayoga,
in the most positive manner. "Great Bear reasons well. I expect to see
the trail of the Ojibway chief, within an hour."

They went forward slowly, lest they walk into an ambush set by the
foe, and, before they had gone two miles, the Onondaga pointed to a
new trail coming out of the forest and merging into that of St. Luc.

"Dagaeoga knows who has walked here!" he said.

"Yes," replied Robert. "It's easy to tell where the great feet of
Tandakora have passed. I suppose he leaves bigger footprints than any
other man now in the province of New York. His warriors were with him
too when he joined St. Luc. We were right in supposing that the French
leader meditates an attack upon us somewhere."

"Tandakora talked a while with St. Luc," said Tayoga, when they
had gone a hundred yards farther. "The big moccasins and the small
moccasins stood together beside the trail. The earth was dampened much
by the fog last night and it leaves the impressions. I think he talked
longer with the Ojibway than he did with De Courcelles and Jumonville.
Tandakora is an evil man but perhaps St. Luc feels less dislike for
him than he does for the two white men. The Ojibway is only a savage
from the region of the Great Lakes, but the Frenchmen should know
that the straight way of life is the right way. You do not forget,
Dagaeoga, how De Courcelles planned with the others that time we were
in Quebec, to have you killed by the bully, Boucher!"

"I don't forget