CHAPTER SEVEN.

Tarbox and Flowers had been on the watch on the side of the hill looking
towards that part of the forest where the seeming deer had appeared, and
had observed the young officers making their way in that direction.
Remembering the proverb, that "too many cooks spoil the broth," they
were afraid that were they to go also, the deer would escape, and they
might lose their share of the venison. They waited, therefore, with
much eagerness, for the return of the sportsmen. When, however, time
went by and they did not appear, Tarbox, calling to Roger Layton, told
him what had happened.

"Can you nowhere see them?" asked Roger.

"No, sir; maybe the deer has led them a long chase," answered Tarbox.

"The Indians may be lurking about," observed Roger to Vaughan, who just
then joined him. Vaughan naturally felt anxious, and at once proposed
taking half a dozen men and going in search of the two lads. Roger
insisted on accompanying him. Rolfe charged them to be cautious, for,
knowing the guile of the Indians, he feared greatly that Gilbert and
Fenton had fallen into their hands, and that they themselves also would
run a great risk of being surprised.

"We will keep our eyes about us," said Roger, springing down the hill to
the side of Vaughan, who, with six volunteers, had already reached the
bottom. They hurried on, keeping their firearms ready for immediate
use; for, though they still hoped that Gilbert and Fenton had really
gone in chase of a deer, they knew that at any moment they might fall in
with the Indians. On reaching the forest they advanced more cautiously
than at first, every now and then stopping and shouting out to Gilbert
and Fenton; but no reply coming, they pushed on still further.

"The lads would scarcely have been so foolish as to have chased the deer
further than this," said Roger. "I very much fear that the Indians have
caught them."

"I fear the same," answered Vaughan, with a sigh, as if unwilling to
acknowledge the truth; "but if so, would they not have slain them at
once rather than have carried them off prisoners?"

"We will, at all events, make a further search through the forest," said
Roger. "We must not give up all hopes of finding them."

Though aware that they were acting imprudently, they could not resist
the temptation of going on farther, the whole party looking out among
the trees; but nothing could they discover to enlighten them on the
subject. They were