own account."

"They can't be far ahead," said the hunter.

"No," said the Onondaga. "They will be coming back in response to my
call, and I think we would better await them here."

They disposed themselves in good order for battle, and then sank to
the earth. Light waves of air registered delicately but clearly on
those wonderful eardrums of Tayoga's. Faint though the sound was,
he understood it. It was the careful tread of men. Tandakora and his
warriors were on the way, called by the crow. He knew when they came
within a hundred yards of where he and his companions lay, and he
knew when they spread out in cautious fashion, to see what manner of
friends these were who came. He knew, too, that Tandakora would not
walk into a trap, and he had not expected at any time that he would,
it having been merely his purpose when he cawed like a crow to call
him back to fair and honorable combat, ambush against ambush. He noted
when the thin line of detached warriors began to advance again, he was
even able to trace the step of Tandakora, heavier than the others,
and to discern when the Ojibway chief stopped a second time, trying to
pierce the thickets with his eyes.

"Tandakora is in doubt," he whispered to Robert. "The call of the crow
which at first seemed so friendly has another meaning now. He is not
so sure that friends are here after all, but he does not understand
how an enemy happens to be behind him. He is angry, too, that his own
pretty ambush, in which he was sitting so cunningly waiting for us,
is broken up. Tandakora's humor is far from good, but, because of it,
mine is excellent."

"You certainly learned the dictionary well when you were in our
schools," Robert whispered back, but as full as ever of admiration for
Tayoga's powers. "Has all sound ceased now?"

"They are not stirring. They have become quite sure that we are
enemies and they wait for us to act first."

"Then I'll give 'em a lead," said Willet, who lay on Tayoga's right.

He thrust out a foot, bringing it down on a dead stick so hard that
it broke with a sharp snap, but instantly drew away to the shelter of
another bush. A rifle cracked in front of them and a bullet cut the
air over the broken stick. Before the warrior who fired the bullet
could sink back Black Rifle pulled the trigger at a certain target,
and the man fell without a sound.

"A fine shot, Captain Jack," said Willet, and a few minutes later the
hunter himself made another jus