n he dropped his hands and walked into the open, Tayoga following
him. Wilton stared as if he had seen someone come back from another
star.

"Lennox, is it really you?" he asked.

"Nobody else."

"You in the flesh and not a ghost?"

"In the flesh and no ghost."

"And is that Tayoga following you?"

"The Onondaga himself."

"And he is not any ghost, either?"

"No ghost, though Tandakora's men tried hard to make him one, and took a
good start at it. But he's wholly in the flesh, too."

"Then shake. I was afraid, at first, to touch hands with a ghost, but,
God bless you, Robert, it fills me with delight to see you again, and
you, too, Tayoga, no less. We thought you both were dead, and Colden and
Carson and Grosvenor and I and a lot of others have wasted a lot of good
mourning on you."

Robert laughed, and it was probably a nervous laugh of relief at having
arrived, through countless dangers, upon an errand of such huge
importance.

"Both of you look worn out," said Wilton. "I dare say you've been up all
night, walking through the interminable forest. Come, have a good, fat
breakfast, then roll between the blankets and sleep all day long."

Robert laughed again. How little the young Quaker knew or suspected!

"We neither eat nor sleep yet, Will," he said. "Where is Colonel
Johnson? You must take us to him at once!"

"The colonel himself, doubtless, has not had his breakfast. But why
this feverish haste? You talk as if you and Tayoga carried the fate of a
nation on your shoulders."

"That's just what we do carry. And, in truth, the fate of more than one,
perhaps. Lead on, Will! Every second is precious!"

Wilton looked at him again, and, seeing the intense earnestness in the
blue eyes of young Lennox, gave a command to his little troop, starting
without another word across the clearing, Robert and Tayoga following
close behind. The two lads were ragged, unkempt, and bore all the signs
of war, but they were unconscious of their dilapidated appearance,
although many of the young soldiers stared at them as they went by. They
passed New England and New York troops cooking their breakfast, and on a
low hill a number of Mohawks were still sleeping.

They approached the tent of Colonel Johnson and were fortunate enough to
find him standing in the doorway, talking with Colonel Ephraim Williams
and Colonel Whiting. But he was so engrossed in the conversation that he
did not see them until Wilton saluted and spo