the thickets of the opposite shore with their powerful and
trained eyesight. They had felt disappointed because they had seen no
trace of the hunted, who had surely come by this time against the
barrier of the river. Frenchman and Ojibway were in a state of angry
wonder at the disappearance of the three who had vanished as if on wings
in the air, leaving no trail. Then Tandakora had chanced to look down.
His eye in the dusky moonlight had caught the faint imprint of a foot on
the grass, perhaps Robert's own, and the sudden shout had been wrenched
from him by his anger and mortification. Now Robert, too, was convulsed
by internal laughter.

"It was our great luck that they did not find us on the tree," he said.

"No, it was not luck," said Tayoga.

"How so?"

"They did not come upon the tree because Tododaho would not let them."

"I forgot. You're right, Tayoga," said Robert sincerely.

"We'll take fresh breath here for five minutes or so," said the hunter,
"and then we'll push on at speed, because we have not only the band of
Tandakora and De Courcelles to fear. There are others in the forest
converging on Fort Refuge."

"Great Bear is right. He is nearly always right," said Tayoga. "We have
passed one barrier, but we will meet many more. There is also danger
behind us. Even now the band is coming fast."

They did not move until the allotted time had passed. Again Robert's
mind painted a picture in glowing colors of the savage warriors, led by
Tandakora and De Courcelles, coming at utmost speed upon their trail,
and his muscles quivered, yet he made no outward sign. To the eye he was
as calm as Tayoga or Willet.

An hour after the resumption of their flight they came to a shallow
creek with a gravelly bed, a creek that obviously emptied into the river
they had crossed, and they resorted to the commonest and most effective
of all devices used by fugitives in the North American wilderness who
wished to hide their trail. They waded in the stream, and, as it led in
the general direction in which they wished to go, they did not leave the
water until they had covered a distance of several miles. Then they
emerged upon the bank and rested a long time.

"When Tandakora and De Courcelles see our traces disappear in the creek
and fail to reappear on the other side," said Willet, "they'll divide
their band and send half of it upstream, and half downstream, looking
everywhere for our place of entry upon dry land, but it