Robert soon forgot the desire for water in the tenseness of watching and waiting.  But even the anxiety and the peril to his life did not keep him from noticing the singularity of his situation, upon the slender peak of a high mountain far in the wilderness.  The sun, full of splendor but still cold, touched with gold all the surrounding crests and ridges and filled with a yellow but luxurious haze every gorge and ravine.  He was compelled to admire its wintry beauty, a beauty, though, that he knew to be treacherous, surcharged as it was with savage wile and stratagem, and a burning desire for their lives.

A time that seemed incredible passed without demonstration from the enemy.  But he realized that it was only about two hours.  He did not expect to see any of the warriors creeping up the slopes toward them, but too wise to watch for their faces he did expect to notice the bushes move ever so slightly under their advance.  He and Willet remained crouched in the same positions in the shelter of high rocks.  Tayoga, who had been moving about the far side, came to them and whispered: 

“I am going down the northern face of the cliff!”

“Why, it’s sheer insanity, Tayoga!” said the astonished hunter.

“But I’m going.”

“What’ll you achieve after you’ve gone?  You’ll merely walk into Tandakora’s hands!”

“I go, Great Bear, and I will return in a half hour, alive and well.”

“Is your mind upset, Tayoga?”

“I am quite sane.  Remember, Great Bear, I will be back in a half hour unhurt.”

Then he was gone, gliding away through the low vegetation that covered the crest, and Robert and the hunter looked at each other.

“There is more in this than the eye sees,” said young Lennox.  “I never knew Tayoga to speak with more confidence.  I think he will be back just as he says, in half an hour.”

“Maybe, though I don’t understand it.  But there are lots of things one doesn’t understand.  We must keep our eyes on the slope, and let Tayoga solve his own problem, whatever it is.”

There was no wind at all, but once Robert thought he saw the shrubs halfway down the steep move, though he was not sure and nothing followed.  But, intently watching the place where the motion had occurred, he caught a gleam of metal which he was quite sure came from a rifle barrel.

“Did you see it?” he whispered to the hunter.

“Aye, lad,” replied Willet.  “They’re there in that dense clump, hoping we’ve relaxed the watch and that they can surprise us.  But it may be two or three hours before they come any farther.  Always remember in your dealings with Indians that they have more time than anything else, and so they know how to be patient.  Now, I wonder what Tayoga is doing!  That boy certainly had something unusual on his mind!”

“Here he is, ready to speak for himself, and back inside his promised half hour.”