ated, and decomposed beyond recognition. The
presence of these, and the fact that all of them were scalped, showed
the destruction of the post to be the work of savages and not the
voluntary act of its garrison; otherwise Donald might have hoped that
the place had been abandoned and a retreat made to some stronger
position.

Not only was the story of the tragedy plainly to be read in the mute
evidences abounding on all sides, but the young woodsman was able to
determine from the drift of ashes, the indentations of raindrops, and
other distinct signs, just how many days had elapsed since the king's
flag last waved above Sandusky. He found traces showing that Cuyler
with his fugitives had been there since the destruction of the place,
and from his own feelings he could readily imagine what theirs must
have been.

These things he learned as easily as from a printed page; but with all
his art he could gain no inkling of the information he most desired.
Were his sister and Madam Rothsay among those who had escaped with
Cuyler? In vain did he scan the prints of moccasined and booted feet,
that abounded among the ruins. None was dainty enough to be that of a
lady.

While Donald was bending over some footprints beside a small
field-piece that, dismounted and rusted, lay half buried in ashes, a
sudden whir-r-r caused him to spring back as though he had received an
electric shock. Only his quickness saved him from the living death
held in the fangs of a rattlesnake that had evidently just crawled from
the black muzzle of the gun. The snake instantly re-coiled to repeat
its venomous stroke, and though Donald could easily have killed it as
he had scores of its kind, the presence of this hideous and sole
representative of life in that place of the dead so filled him with
horror that he turned and fled to his canoe. Nor did he pause in his
flight until he had covered many miles of water, and was compelled to
do so by the faintness of hunger.

He had instinctively shaped his course to the eastward, and now reason
decided him to continue it in that direction. It was the only one that
Cuyler could have taken, and in searching for his sister the young
ensign had no other clue to follow save that afforded by the fugitives.

Coasting the shore until he discovered the mouth of a small stream,
Donald forced his canoe up this until it was effectually concealed from
the lake. Then he made a fire of dry wood that would give forth