me slower. Those who had been
wounded severely approached the critical stage, and once they stopped
two days until all danger had passed.

Three days later a fierce summer storm burst upon them. Tayoga had
foreseen it, and the whole troop was gathered in the lee of a hill,
with all their ammunition protected by blankets, canvas and the skins
of deer that they had killed. But the young Philadelphians,
unaccustomed to the fury of the elements in the wilderness, looked
upon it with awe.

In the west the lightning blazed and the thunder crashed for a long
time. Often the forest seemed to swim in a red glare, and Robert
himself was forced to shut his eyes before the rapid flashes of
dazzling brightness. Then came a great rushing of wind with a mighty
rain on its edge, and, when the wind died, the rain fell straight down
in torrents more than an hour.

Although they kept their ammunition and other supplies dry the men
themselves were drenched to the bone, but the storm passed more
suddenly than it had come. The clouds parted on the horizon, then all
fled away. The last raindrop fell and a shining sun came out in a hot
blue sky. As the men resumed a drooping march their clothes dried fast
in the fiery rays and their spirits revived.

When night came they were dry again, and youth had taken no harm. The
next day they struck an Indian trail, but both Willet and Tayoga said
it had been made by less than a dozen warriors, and that they were
going north.

"It's my belief," said Willet, "that they were warriors from the Ohio
country on their way to join the French along the Canadian border."

"And they're not staying to meet us," said Colden. "I'm afraid, Will,
it'll be some time before you have a chance to show your unbottled
Quaker valor."

"Perhaps not so long as you think," replied Wilton, who had plenty of
penetration. "I don't claim to be any great forest rover, although I
do think I've learned something since I left Philadelphia, but I
imagine that our building of a fort in the woods will draw 'em. The
Indian runners will soon be carrying the news of it, and then they'll
cluster around us like flies seeking sugar."

"You're right, Mr. Wilton," said Willet. "After we build this fort
it's as sure as the sun is in the heavens that we'll have to fight for
it."

Two days later they reached the site for their little fortress which
they named Fort Refuge, because they intended it as a place in which
harried settlers mig