GARAY A French spy
ALFRED GROSVENOR A young English officer
JAMES CABELL A young Virginian
WALTER STUART A young Virginian
BLACK RIFLE A famous "Indian fighter"
ELIHU STRONG A Massachusetts colonel
ALAN HERVEY A New York financier
STUART WHYTE Captain of the British sloop,
_Hawk_
JOHN LATHAM Lieutenant of the British sloop,
_Hawk_
EDWARD CHARTERIS A young officer of the Royal
Americans
ZEBEDEE CRANE A young scout and forest runner
ROBERT ROGERS Famous Captain of American Rangers

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE HERALDS OF PERIL 1

II. THE KINDLY BRIDGE 22

III. THE FLIGHT 42

IV. A FOREST CONCERT 64

V. GATHERING FORCES 88

VI. THE DARK STRANGER 112

VII. ON THE GREAT TRAIL 136

VIII. ARESKOUI'S FAVOR 154

IX. ON ANDIATAROCTE 178

X. THE NAVAL COMBAT 198

XI. THE COMRADES 220

XII. THE SINISTER SIEGE 243

XIII. TANDAKORA'S GRASP 268

XIV. SHARP SWORD 289

XV. THE LAKE BATTLE 312

_The_ RULERS OF THE LAKES

_A STORY OF GEORGE AND CHAMPLAIN_

CHAPTER I

THE HERALDS OF PERIL

The three, the white youth, the red youth, and the white man, lay deep
in the forest, watching the fire that burned on a low hill to the west,
where black figures flitted now and then before the flame. They did not
stir or speak for a long time, because a great horror was upon them.
They had seen an army destroyed a few days before by a savage but
invisible foe. They had heard continually for hours the fierce
triumphant yells of the warriors and they had seen the soldiers dropping
by hundreds, but the woods and thickets had hid the foe who sent forth
such a rain of death.

Robert Lennox could not yet stop the quiver of his nerves when he
recalled the spectacle, and Willet, the hunter, hardened though he was
to war, shuddered in spite of himself at the memory of that terrible
battle in the leafy wilderness. Nor was