usual, as
scouts, and the rest, fatigued by their paddle and the hard day's work,
were soon asleep.

In the morning they were about to start, and Rogers ordered the canoes
to be hauled up and hidden among the bushes, where, having done their
work, they would for the present be abandoned, to be recovered and made
useful on some future occasion.

The men charged with the work gave a sudden exclamation when they
reached the canoes.

"What is that?" Rogers said angrily. "Do you want to bring all the
redskins in the forest upon us?"

"The canoes are all damaged," one of the scouts said, coming up to him.

There was a general movement to the canoes, which were lying on the
bank a few yards' distance from the water's edge. Every one of them had
been rendered useless. The thin birch bark had been gashed and slit,
pieces had been cut out, and not one of them had escaped injury or was
fit to take the water. Beyond a few low words, and exclamations of
dismay, not a word was spoken as the band gathered round the canoes.

"Who were on the watch on this side?" Rogers asked.

"Nat and Jonathan took the first half of the night," one of the scouts
said. "Williams and myself relieved them."

As all four were men of the greatest skill and experience, Rogers felt
sure that no neglect or carelessness on their part could have led to
the disaster.

"Did any of you see any passing boats, or hear any sound on the lake?"

The four men who had been on guard replied in the negative.

"I will swear no one landed near the canoes," Nat said. "There was a
glimmer on the water all night; a canoe could not have possibly come
near the bank, anywheres here, without our seeing it."

"Then he must have come from the land side," Rogers said. "Some
skulking Indian must have seen us out on the lake, and have hidden up
when we landed. He may have been in a tree overhead all the time, and,
directly the canoes were hauled up, he may have damaged them and made
off.

"There is no time to be lost, lads. It is five hours since we landed.
If he started at once the redskins may be all round us now. It is no
question now of our scouting round the French fort, it is one of saving
our scalps."

"How could it have been done?" James Walsham asked Nat, in a low tone.
"We were all sleeping within a few yards of the canoes, and some of the
men were close to them. I should have thought we must have heard it."

"Heard it!" the hunter said contemptuously; "why,