ne's overstrained
system, and feel that one is watched over by a faithful friend, one who
can do your work as well as his. You're not only a faithful friend,
Tayoga, you're a most useful one also."

"Dagaeoga is lazy. He would not have as a friend one who is lazy like
himself. He needs a comrade to take care of him. Perhaps it is better
so. Dagaeoga is an orator; an orator has privileges, and one of his
privileges is a claim to be watched over by others. One cannot speak
forever and work, too."

Robert opened his eyes and smiled. The friendship between him and
Tayoga, begun in school days, had been tested by countless hardships and
dangers, and though each made the other an object of jest, it was as
firm as that of Orestes and Pylades or that of Damon and Pythias.

"What are the rabbits doing now?" asked young Lennox, who had closed
his eyes again.

"They eat less and play less," replied the Onondaga. "Ah, their attitude
is that of suspicion! It may be that the enemy comes! Now they run away,
and the enemy surely comes!"

Robert sat up, and laid his rifle across his knee. All appearance of
laziness or relaxation disappeared instantly. He was attentive, alert,
keyed to immediate action.

"Can you see anything, Tayoga?" he whispered.

"No, but I think I hear the sound of footsteps approaching. I am not yet
sure, because the footfall, if footfall it be, is almost as light as the
dropping of a feather."

Both remained absolutely still, not moving a leaf in their covert, and
presently a huge and sinister figure walked into the open. It seemed to
Robert that Tandakora was larger than ever, and that he was more
evil-looking. His face was that of the warrior who would show no mercy,
and his body, save for a waistcloth, was livid with all the hideous
devices of war paint. Behind him came a Frenchman whom Robert promptly
recognized as Achille Garay, and a half dozen warriors, all of whom
turned questing eyes toward the earth.

"They look for a trail," whispered Tayoga. "It is well, Dagaeoga, that
we took the precaution to walk on rocks when we came into this covert,
or Tandakora, who is so eager for our blood, would find the traces."

"Tandakora costs me great pain," Robert whispered back. "It's my
misfortune always to be seeing him just when I can't shoot at him. I'm
tempted to try it, anyhow. That's a big, broad chest of his, and I
couldn't find a finer target."

"No, Dagaeoga, on your life, no! Our scalps would b