with the forces of St. Luc. You would be there,
Dagaeoga, to help in the fighting. Go, I am useless. It is not a time to
cumber yourself with me."

"If I lay there as you are, and you stood here as I am would you leave
me?" asked Robert.

The Onondaga was silent.

"You know you wouldn't," continued Robert, "and you know I won't.
Listen, the battle comes nearer. St. Luc must have received a
reenforcement."

He leaned forward a little, cupping his ear with his right hand, and he
heard distinctly all the sounds of a fierce and terrible conflict, rifle
shots, yells of the savages, shouts of the rangers, and once or twice he
thought he saw faintly the flashes of rifles as they were fired in the
thickets.

"Go," said Tayoga again. "I can see that your spirit turns to the
battle. They may not find me, and, perhaps in a day, I shall be able to
walk and take care of myself."

Robert made no reply in words, but once more he lifted the Onondaga in
his sinewy arms, settled his weight against his left shoulder and
resumed his walk away from the battle. Tayoga did not speak, and Robert
soon saw that he had relapsed again into unconsciousness. He went at
least three hundred yards before resting, and all the while the battle
called to him, the shots, the yells and the shouts still coming clearly
through the thin mountain air.

He rested perhaps fifteen minutes, and he saw that, while Tayoga was
unconscious, the flow of blood was still held in check by the bandages.
Resuming his burden, he went on through the forest, a full quarter of a
mile now, and the last sound of the battle sank into nothingness behind
him. He was consumed with anxiety to know who had won, but there was not
a sign to tell.

He came to a brook, and putting Tayoga down once more, he bathed his
face freely, until the Onondaga opened his eyes and looked about, not
with a veil before his eyes now, but clearly.

"Where are we, Dagaeoga?" he asked.

"I'd tell you if I could, but I can't," replied Robert, cheerfully,
rejoiced at the sight of his comrade's returning strength.

"You have left the battle behind you?"

"Yes. I can state in general terms that we're somewhere between
Andiatarocte and Oneadatote, which is quite enough for you to know at
the present time. I'm the forest doctor, and as this is the first chance
I've ever had to exert authority over you, I mean to make the most of
it."

Tayoga smiled wanly.

"I see that you have bound up my wound,