gently
increasing pressure, his keen sense of hearing told him the sentinel was
moving, and the scout paused before the frail boat had yielded to the
force.

The Iroquois was approaching the canoe, as if he suspected mischief.

The boat itself was no quieter than the Mohawk, as he listened to the
advance of his enemy. He could tell what the latter was doing as well as
if he were looking directly at him. He knew he was picking his way to
where the boat was lying, and a minute after, had paused within arm's
length of the same. There he stood while the Mohawk awaited his next
move.

If the sentinel should step into the craft, it would show that he
intended to look over the stern, in which case the Mohawk held himself
ready to sink below the surface, coming up so far out in the stream that
he would be invisible. But if the Iroquois really suspected any such act
upon the part of the great enemy of his tribe, his fears were removed by
the utter silence. After waiting a little longer, he returned to his
former position with the same caution and silence as before. Lena-Wingo
hardly paused until he was out of the way, when he drew a little harder
upon the stern, and felt it slowly yielding to the force. A few more
minutes of undisturbed action, and he was sure of having the canoe just
where he wanted it!

CHAPTER XVI.

IROQUOIS AGAINST IROQUOIS.

Slowly and evenly, as the shadow steals along the face of the dial, did
the Mohawk draw the canoe from its resting place on the dark bank of the
river. One might have stood and gazed directly at it for ten minutes
without suspecting what was going on, it being only when he compared its
situation with what it was a short time before that the difference was
likely to be noticed. If the Iroquois sentinel should be on the alert
for some such strategy on the part of the Mohawk, who was known to all
as one of the most cunning of his race, it would seem that the trick was
impossible. But there was every reason to hope that he did not suspect
it, as his action in returning to his first station after the brief
examination, showed, and the Mohawk acted on this belief.

The retrograde movement, once started, was not abated till the boat was
drawn clear of the shore and floated free in the water. Then, without
shifting its position as regarded the bank itself, the motion was
continued down the current, until some eight or a dozen feet were
passed. The hopes of Lena-Wingo were high