He ate as much as Robert would let him have, and then, with a great sigh
of content, sank back on his bed of leaves.

"I can feel my wound healing," he said. "Already the clean flesh is
spreading over the hurt and the million tiny strands are knitting
closely together. Some day it shall be said in the Vale of Onondaga that
the wound of Tayoga healed more quickly than the wound of any other
warrior of our nation."

"Good enough as a prophecy, but for the present we'll bathe and bind it
anew. A little good doctoring is a wonderful help to will and
prediction."

Robert once more cleansed the hurt very thoroughly, and he was surprised
to find its extremely healthy condition. It had already begun to heal, a
proof of amazing vitality on the part of Tayoga, and unless the
unforeseen occurred he would set a record in recovery. Robert heaped the
leaves under his head to form a pillow, and the young warrior's eyes
sparkled as he looked around at their snug abode.

"I can hear the water running by the mouth of the cave," he said. "It
comes from last night's rain and flood, but what of tonight, Dagaeoga?
The skies and what they have to say mean much to us."

"It will rain again. I've been looking out. All the west is heavy with
clouds and the light winds come, soaked with damp. I don't claim to be
any prophet like you, Tayoga, because I'm a modest man, I am, but the
night will be wet and dark."

"Then we are still under the protection of Tododaho, of Areskoui and of
Manitou, greatest of all. Let the dark come quickly and the rain fall
heavily, because they will be a veil about us to hide us from Tandakora
and his savages."

All that the Onondaga wished came to pass. The clouds, circling about
the horizon, soon spread to the zenith, and covered the heavens, hiding
the moon and the last star. The rain came, not in a flood, but in a cold
and steady pour lasting all night. The night was not only dark and wet
outside, but it was very chill also, though in the cave the two young
warriors, the white and the red, were warm and dry on their blankets
and beds of leaves.

Robert pounded more of the venison the next morning and gave Tayoga
twice as much as he had eaten the day before. The Onondaga clamored for
an additional supply, but Robert would not let him have it.

"Epicure! Gourmand! Gorger!" said young Lennox. "Would you do nothing
but eat? Do you think it your chief duty in this world to be a glutton?"

"No, Dagaeoga,"