Peyster looked curiously at Henry.

"Come," he said, "we'll go outside. I think I'll keep my own eye on you
for a little while."

When they emerged from the house a long plaintive howl came from the
Canadian forest. A sort of shiver, as if he were looking into the
future, ran through Henry's veins. All his premonitions were coming
true.

"Did you hear that wolf?" asked de Peyster. "It is but a wilderness
after all, and this is merely a point in it like a lighthouse in the
sea. Come, we'll walk that way; it's about the only view we have."

Again that strange quiver ran through Henry's veins. Colonel de Peyster
himself was leading exactly where the captive wished to go.

"I have often noticed you walking on the palisade with Lieutenant
Holderness," said Colonel de Peyster; "now you can go there with me."

"I thank you for the invitation," said Henry, as the two climbed up one
of the little ladders and stood side by side on the palisade. "Does not
this view of the great river and the limitless forest beyond appeal to
you, Colonel?"

"At times," replied Colonel de Peyster in a somewhat discontented tone.
"It is the edge of a magnificent empire that we see before us, and I
like the active service that I have been able to do for the King, but
there are times when I wish that I could be back in New York, where I
was born, and which the royal troops occupy. It is a trim city, with
wealth and fashion, and one can enjoy life there. Now I wonder if that
is one of the Indians whom I have had on watch on the river."

A light canoe containing a single warrior put out from the farther
shore, where evidently it had been lying among the dense foliage on the
bank. No particular purpose seemed to animate the warrior who sat in it.
Both Colonel de Peyster and Henry could see that he was a powerful
fellow, evidently a Wyandot. With easy, apparently careless strokes of
the paddle, he brought his canoe in a diagonal course to a point near
the middle of the stream. Then he began to play with the canoe, sending
it hither and thither in long, gliding reaches, or bringing it up with a
sharp jerk that would have caused it to overturn in hands less skillful.
But so keen was the judgment and so delicate the touch of the warrior
that it never once shipped water.

"Wonderful fellows, those Indians," said Colonel de Peyster. "How they
do handle a canoe! It is almost like magic! I verily believe the fellow
is showing off for our benefit."

"