The darkness increased, and the wind swept through the chasms with alternate moan and whistle, but the red youth held on his course for a full two miles, and his comrades followed without a word.  When the cliffs about them rose to a height of two or three hundred feet, he stopped, and, pointing with a long forefinger, said he had found what they wished.

Robert at first could see nothing but a pit of blackness, but gradually as he gazed the shadows passed away, and he traced a deep recess in the stone of the cliff, not much of a shelter to those unused to the woods, but sufficient for hardy forest runners.

“I think we may build a little fire in there,” said Tayoga, “and no one can see it unless he is here in the ravine within ten feet of us.”

Willet nodded and Robert joyfully began to prepare for the blaze.  The night was turning even colder than he had expected, and the chill was creeping into his frame.  The fire would be most welcome for its warmth, and also because of the good cheer it would bring.  He swept dry leaves into a heap within the recess, put upon them dead wood, which was abundant everywhere, and then Tayoga with artful use of flint and steel lighted the spark.

“It is good,” admitted the hunter as he sat Turkish fashion on the leaves, and spread out his hands before the growing flames.  “The nights grow cold mighty soon here in the high hills of the north, and the heat not only loosens up your muscles, but gives you new courage.”

“I intend to make myself as comfortable as possible,” said Robert.  “You and Tayoga are always telling me to do so and I know the advice is good.”

He gathered great quantities of the dry leaves, making of them what was in reality a couch, upon which he could recline in halfway fashion like a Roman at a feast, and warm at the fire before him the food he carried in a deerskin knapsack.  An appetizing odor soon arose, and, as he ate, a pleasant warmth pervaded all his body, giving him a feeling of great content.  They had venison, the tender meat of the young bear which, like the Indians, they loved, and they also allowed themselves a slice apiece of precious bread.  Water was never distant in the northern wilderness, and Tayoga found a brook not a hundred yards away, flowing down a ravine that cut across their own.  They drank at it in turn, and, then, the three lay down on the leaves in the recess, grateful to the Supreme Power which provided so well for them, even in the wild forest.

They let the flames die, but a comfortable little bed of coals remained, glowing within the shelter of the rocks.  Young Lennox heaped up the leaves until they formed a pillow under his head, and then half dreaming, gazed into the heart of the fire, while his comrades reclined near him, each silent but with his mind turned to that which concerned him most.