r at his feet, while he held
the bow and one arrow in his hands.

They talked a little from time to time and then relapsed into a long
silence. Robert noticed that nothing living stirred in the defile. No
more rabbits came out to play and no birds sang in the trees. He
considered it a sign, nay more, an omen that Tayoga's prediction was
coming true. The peril threatening them was great and imminent. His
sense of the sinister and uncanny increased. A chill ran through his
veins. The great shining day was going, and, although it was midsummer,
a cold wind was herald of the coming twilight. He shivered again, and
looked at the long shadows falling in the defile.

"Tayoga," he said, "that uncanny talk of yours has affected me, but I
believe you've just made it all up. No wolves are coming to attack us."

"Dagaeoga does not believe anything of the kind. He believes, instead,
what I have told him. His voice and his manner show it. He is sure the
wolves are coming."

"You're right, Tayoga, I do believe it. There's every reason why I
shouldn't, but, in very truth and fact, I do. Our fine day is going
fast. Look how the twilight is growing on the mountains. From our nook
here I can just see the rim of the sun, who is your God, Areskoui. Soon
he will be gone entirely and then all the ridges will be lost in the
dusk. I hope--and I'm not jesting either--that you've said your prayer
to him."

"As I told you, Dagaeoga, one must not ask too many favors. But now the
sun is wholly gone and the night will be dark. The wind rises and it
moans like the soul of an evil warrior condemned to wander between
heaven and earth. The night will be dark, and in two hours the wolves
will be here."

Robert looked at him, but the face of the Onondaga was that of a seer,
and once more the blood of the white youth ran chill in his veins. He
was silent again, and now the minutes were leaden-footed, so slow, in
truth, that it seemed an hour would never pass and the two hours Tayoga
had predicted were an eternity. The afterglow disappeared and the
darkness was deep in the defile. The trees above were fused into a black
mass, and then, after an infinity of waiting, a faint note, sinister and
full of menace, came out of the wilderness. Tayoga and Robert glanced at
each other.

"It is as you predicted," said Robert.

"It is the howl of the great timber wolf from the far north who has made
himself the leader of the band," said the Onondaga. "When he h