afe
now from pursuit, they were no longer eager to flee. A brief council
of three decided that they would hang once more on the French and
Indian flank. It had been their purpose to discover what was intended
by the formidable array they had seen, and it was their purpose yet.

They did not go back on their path, but they turned eastward into a
land of little and beautiful lakes, through which one of the great
Indian trails from the northwest passed, and made a hidden camp
near the shore of a sheet of water about a mile square, set in the
mountains like a gem. They had method in locating here, as the trail
ran through a gorge less than half a mile to the east of their camp,
and they had an idea that the spy, Garay, might pass that way, two of
them always abiding by the trail, while the third remained in their
secluded camp or hunted game. Willet shot a deer and Tayoga brought
down a rare wild turkey, while Robert caught some wonderful lake
trout. So they had plenty of food, and they were content to wait.

They were sure that Garay had not yet gone, as the storms that had
threatened them would certainly have delayed his departure, and
neither the hunter nor the Onondaga could discover any traces of
footsteps. Fortunately the air continued to turn warmer and the lower
country in which they now were had all the aspects of Indian summer.
Robert, shaken a little perhaps by the great hardships and dangers
through which he had passed, though he may not have realized at the
time the weight upon his nerves, recovered quickly, and, as usual,
passed, with the rebound, to the heights of optimism.

"What do you expect to get from Garay?" he asked Willet as he changed
places with him on the trail.

"I'm not sure," replied the hunter, "but if we catch him we'll find
something. We've got to take our bird first, and then we'll see. He
went north and west with a message, and that being the case he's bound
to take one back. I don't think Garay is a first-class woodsman and we
may be able to seize him."

Robert was pleased with the idea of the hunted turning into the
hunters, and he and Tayoga now did most of the watching along the
trail, a watch that was not relaxed either by day or by night. On
the sixth night the two youths were together, and Tayoga thought he
discerned a faint light to the north.

"It may be a low star shining over a hill," said Robert.

"I think it is the glow from a small camp fire," said the Onondaga.

"It