d choose to
fight for him.

Tayoga too was troubled, his mind in its own way being as active as
Robert's. He knew all the spirits of earth, air and water were abroad,
but he hoped at least one of them would look upon him with favor, and
give him a warning. He sought Tododaho's star in the heavens, but the
clouds were too thick, and, eye failing, he relied upon his ear for
the signal which he and his young white comrade sought so earnestly.

If Tayoga had erred either in omission or commission then the spirits
that hovered about him forgave him, as when the night was thickest
they gave the sign. It was but the faint fall of a foot, and, at
first, he thought a bear or a deer had made it, but at the fourth or
fifth fall he knew that it was a human footstep and he whispered to
his comrades:

"Some one comes!"

As if by preconcerted signal the three arose and crept silently into
the dense underbrush, where they crouched, their rifles thrust
forward.

"It is but one man and he walks directly toward us," whispered Tayoga.

"I hear him now," said Robert. "He is wearing moccasins, as his step
is too light for boots."

"Which means that he's a rover like ourselves," said Willet. "Now he's
stopped. There isn't a sound. The man, whoever he is, has taken alarm,
or at least he's decided that it's best for him to be more
watchful. Perhaps he's caught a whiff from the ashes of our fire. He's
white or he wouldn't be here alone, and he's used to the forest, or he
wouldn't have suspected a presence from so little."

"The Great Bear thinks clearly," said Tayoga. "It is surely a white
man and some great scout or hunter. He moved a little now to the
right, because I heard his buckskin brush lightly against a bush. I
think Great Bear is right about the fire. The wind has brought the
ashes from it to his nostrils, and he will lie in the bush long before
moving."

"Which doesn't suit our plans at all," said Willet. "There's a
chance, just a chance, that I may know who he is. White men of the
kind to go scouting through the wilderness are not so plenty on the
border that one has to make many guesses. You lads move away a little
so you won't be in line if a shot comes, and I'll give a signal."

Robert and Tayoga crept to other points in the brush, and the hunter
uttered a whistle, low but very clear and musical. In a moment or two,
a like answer came from a place about a hundred yards away, and Willet
rising, advanced without hesita