eft burning, had
smouldered so low that none of the embers were discernible, and only a
thin column of smoke crept slowly upward marking where it had been.
But this vapor was so clearly seen in the wonderful moonlight that it
was easy to fix the precise point where the trail entered the
wilderness.

It was just there, as Long believed, that the savages would debouch
into sight, and renew the warfare which thus far had been only one
series of disasters to them.

He was not mistaken, when, shortly after he had noticed the increasing
number of logs and driftwood, he fancied he detected something going on
at the very point on which his gaze was fixed.

As was the case with Fred Ashman, it was some time before he could so
much as conjecture its nature. The glimpses were so faint and
momentary that nothing tangible resulted, though he was positive that
some of their enemies were there.

At the moment he uttered an exclamation of impatience, he made out
three figures of the natives, who advanced far enough from the wood for
him to identify them.

Not only that, but they walked stealthily to the edge of the river and
stood several minutes, as if looking across at the canoe.

Long was confident that he could drop one of them at least, and he was
tempted to do so. The most effective way of keeping the savages off
was by nipping their schemes in the bud, and filling them with
additional terror of the white strangers.

But he decided to wait a while, suspecting, as he did, that some scheme
whose nature he could not guess was under way, and that if the
projectors were undisturbed, it would soon be revealed.

Jared Long, we say, was convinced that the natives were scrutinizing
the canoe and seeking to learn something about the occupants, whom they
had doubtless watched as they made their way from the water to the
shelter of the wood. Such was his belief, and yet he was altogether
mistaken.

It struck him as odd that the savages acted as they did, when it would
seem that they could see just as well from the edge of the wood, where
they were not exposed to the fire of their enemies; but he reflected
that there was precious little about the conduct of the natives from
the first that could be explained on the line of common sense and
consistency.

The trio stood in view less than five minutes, when they darted back to
cover, as if afraid of being seen by the whites, a theory altogether
untenable under the circumstances.