a great breath. The sun itself was fading. Areskoui had
shown his face long enough and now he meant to make the veil between
himself and man impenetrable. He became a mere shadow, the mists and
vapors rolled up wave on wave, and he was gone entirely. Then night came
down over mountains, forest and Andiatarocte. The last fire on St Luc's
island had been permitted to die out, and it, too, sank into the mists
and vapors with the others, and was invisible to the watchers on the
mainland slope.

But little could be seen of Andiatarocte itself, save occasional
glimmers of silver under the floating clouds. Not a star was able to
come out, and all the lake and country about it were wrapped in a heavy
grayish mist which seemed to Robert to be surcharged with some kind of
exciting solution. But the three leaders, Rogers, Willet and Daganoweda,
gathered in a close council, did not yet give any order save that plenty
of food be served to rangers and Mohawks alike.

Thus a long time was permitted to pass and the mists and vapors over
Andiatarocte deepened steadily. No sound came from St. Luc's island, nor
was any fire lighted there. For all the darkness showed, it had sunk
from sight forever. It was an hour till midnight when the three leaders
gave their orders and the chosen band began to prepare. Robert had
begged to be of the perilous number. He could never endure it if Tayoga
went and not he, and Willet, though reluctant, was compelled to consent.
Willet himself was going also, and so was Daganoweda, of course, and
Black Rifle, but Rogers was to remain behind, in command of the force on
the slope.

Thirty rangers and thirty Mohawks, all powerful swimmers, were chosen,
and every man stripped to the skin. Firearms, of necessity, were left
behind with the clothes, but everyone buckled a belt around his bare
body, and put in it his hatchet and hunting knife. The plan was to swim
silently for the island and then trust to courage, skill and fortune.
Buoyed up by the favor of Areskoui, who had worked a miracle for them,
the sixty dropped into the water, and began their night of extreme
hazard.

CHAPTER IX

ON ANDIATAROCTE

Robert, as was natural, swam by the side of Tayoga, his comrade in so
many hardships and dangers, and, after the long period of tense and
anxious waiting, he felt a certain relief that the start was made, even
though it was a start into the very thick of peril.

Willet was on the right wing of the s