ovely day with hardly
a cloud in the heavens, and the sun streaming down through the thick
foliage covered the shaded sward with a delicate network of gold.
Sometimes where the woods opened they came out into the pure sunlight,
but only to pass into thick glades beyond, where a single ray, here and
there, was all that could break its way through the vast leafy covering.
It would have been beautiful, these sudden transitions from light to
shade, but with the feeling of impending danger, and of a horror ever
lurking in these shadows, the mind was tinged with awe rather than
admiration. Silently, lightly, the four men picked their steps among
the great tree trunks.

Suddenly Du Lhut dropped upon his knees and stooped his ear to the
ground. He rose, shook his head, and walked on with a grave face,
casting quick little glances into the shadows in every direction.

"Did you hear something?" whispered Amos.

Du Lhut put his finger to his lips, and then in an instant was down
again upon his face with his ear fixed to the ground. He sprang up with
the look of a man who has heard what he expected to hear.

"Walk on," said he quietly, "and behave exactly as you have done all
day."

"What is it, then?"

"Indians."

"In front of us?"

"No, behind us."

"What are they doing?"

"They are following us."

"How many of them?"

"Two, I think."

The friends glanced back involuntarily over their shoulders into the
dense blackness of the forest. At one point a single broad shaft of
light slid down between two pines and cast a golden blotch upon their
track. Save for this one vivid spot all was sombre and silent.

"Do not look round," whispered Du Lhut sharply. "Walk on as before."

"Are they enemies?"

"They are Iroquois."

"And pursuing us?"

"No, we are now pursuing them."

"Shall we turn, then?"

"No, they would vanish like shadows,"

"How far off are they?"

"About two hundred paces, I think."

"They cannot see us, then?"

"I think not, but I cannot be sure. They are following our trail, I
think."

"What shall we do, then?"

"Let us make a circle and get behind them."

Turning sharp to the left he led them in a long curve through the woods,
hurrying swiftly and yet silently under the darkest shadows of the
trees. Then he turned again, and presently halted.

"This is our own track," said he.

"Ay, and two Redskins have passed over it," cried Amos, bending down,
and pointing to marks which