gnals that bands might
make to one another, but heard nothing. Willet, in truth, was not
surprised.

"Silence will serve them best," he said, "and they'll send runners from
band to band. Still, if they do give signals we want to know it."

"There is a river, narrow but deep, about five miles ahead," said
Tayoga, "and we'll have to cross it on our way to the fort. I think it
is there that Tandakora will await us."

"It's pretty sure to be the place," said Willet. "Do you know where
there's a ford, Tayoga?"

"There is none."

"Then we'll have to swim for it. That's bad. But you say it's a narrow
stream?"

"Yes, Great Bear. Two minutes would carry us across it."

"Then we must find some place for the fording where the trees lean over
from either side and the shadow is deep."

Tayoga nodded, and, after that, they advanced in silence, redoubling
their caution as they drew near to the river. The night was not so
bright as the one that had just gone before, but it furnished sufficient
light for wary and watching warriors to see their figures at a
considerable distance, and, now and then, they stopped to search the
thickets with their own eyes. No wind blew, their footsteps made no
sound and the intense stillness of the forest wove itself into the
texture of Robert's mind. His extraordinary fancy peopled it with
phantoms. There was a warrior in every bush, but, secure in the
comradeship of his two great friends, he went on without fear.

"There is no signal," whispered Tayoga at last. "They do not even
imitate the cry of bird or beast, and it proves one thing, Great Bear."

"So it does, Tayoga."

"You know as well as I do, Great Bear, that they make no sound because
they have set the trap, and they do not wish to alarm the game which
they expect to walk into it."

"Even so, Tayoga. Our minds travel in the same channel."

"But the game is suspicious, nevertheless," continued Tayoga in his
precise school English, "and the trap will not fall."

"No, Tayoga, it won't fall, because the game won't walk into it."

"Tandakora will suffer great disappointment. He is a mighty hunter and
he has hunted mighty game, but the game that he hunts now is more wary
than the stag or the bear, and has greater power to strike back than
either."

"Well spoken, Tayoga."

The hunter and the Onondaga looked at each other in the dark and
laughed. Their spirits were as wild as the wilderness, and they were
enjoying the prospect of t