trigger.
A stream of fire sprang from the muzzle of the long barrel to be
followed by a yell in one of the thickets clustering on the slope. A
savage rose to his feet, threw up his arms and fell headlong, his body
crashing far below on the rocks. Robert shut his eyes and shivered.

"He was dead before he touched earth, lad," said the hunter. "Now the
others are ready to scramble back. Look how the bushes are shaking
again!"

Robert had shut his eyes only for a moment, and now he saw the scrub
shaking more violently than ever. Then he had a fleeting glimpse of
brown bodies as all the warriors descended rapidly. Anyone of the
three might have fired with good aim, but they did not raise their
rifles. Since their enemies were retreating they would let them
retreat.

"They're all back in the valley now," said the hunter after a little
while, "and they'll think a lot before they try the steep ascent a
second time. Now it's a question of patience, and they hope we'll
become so weak from thirst that we'll fall into their hands."

"Tandakora and his warriors would be consumed with anger if they knew
of our spring," said Tayoga.

"They'll find out about it soon," said Robert.

"I think not," said Tayoga. "I noticed when I was at the fountain that
the rivulet ran back into the cliff about a hundred feet below, and
one can see the water only from the crest. If Areskoui has allowed us
to be besieged here, he at least has created much in our favor."

He looked toward the east, where the great red sun was shining, and
worshiped silently. It seemed to Robert that his young comrade stared
unwinking for a long time into the eye of the Sun God, though perhaps
it was only a few seconds. But his form expanded and his face was
illumined. Robert knew that the Onondaga's confidence had become
supreme, and he shared in it.

The hunter and Tayoga kept the watch after a while, and young Lennox
was free to wander about the crest as he wished. He examined carefully
the three sides they had left unguarded, but was convinced that no
warrior, no matter how skillful and tenacious, could climb up there.
Then he wandered back toward the sentinels, and, sitting down under a
tree, began to study the distant slopes across the gorge.

He saw the warriors gather by-and-by in a deep recess out of rifle
shot, light a fire and begin to cook great quantities of game, as
if they meant to stay there and keep the siege until doomsday, if
necessary. He sa