nt. They then lay down for the night under a large
tree; the weather was very warm, and they did not light a fire, as they
had some cooked provisions.

The next morning, as soon as it was daylight, they made a hasty meal,
and resumed their task. The trail was now pretty clear, and was
occasionally verified by the breaking of a twig, as before. This day
they made sixteen miles' journey, and at the close of it they arrived at
the borders of a lake about ten miles long, and from one-and-a-half to
two wide; the trail went right on to the shore of the lake, and then
disappeared.

"Here they must have taken to the water," said Alfred; "but what means
have they had to cross?"

"That we must discover, somehow or another, sir," replied Malachi, "or
else we shall not find the trail again; perhaps, however, we shall see
to-morrow morning; it is too dark now to attempt to find out, and we may
do more harm than good by tracking down the bank. We must bring to for
the night. There is a high rock there on the beach further up, we had
better go there, as we can light a fire behind the rock without being
discovered by it, supposing the Indians are on the opposite shore; and
to-night we must cook all our provisions if we possibly can, for, depend
upon it, we have traveled faster to-day than they can have done with the
young lady, and if we can once get well on the trail again, we shall
soon be up with them."

"God grant that we may!" exclaimed Captain Sinclair; "the idea of what
poor Mary must suffer, almost drives me mad."

"Yes, sir, she will be terribly foot-sore, I have no doubt," replied
Malachi, "but the Indians will not treat her ill, depend upon it."

Captain Sinclair sighed, but made no reply.

As soon as they arrived at the mass of rock which Malachi had pointed
out, they all commenced collecting fire-wood, and the Strawberry in a
few minutes had a sufficient fire for their purpose. They had not any
cooking utensils with them, but the pork was cut in slices, and stuck
upon the ends of small sticks round the fire, until it was sufficiently
cooked, and then it was packed up again in parcels, with the exception
of what was retained for their supper. They had finished their meal, and
were sitting round the embers of the fire, conversing, and calculating
the probabilities as to their overtaking the Indians, when Martin sprang
up, with his rifle ready to bring to his shoulder.

"What is it?" said Alfred in a low tone, as Mar