The winds grew increasingly chill, coming from the vast lakes beyond the Great Lakes, those that lay in the far Canadian north, and the skies were invariably leaden in hue and gloomy.  But in the cave it was cozy and warm.  Furs and skins were so numerous that there was no longer room on the floor and walls for them all, many being stored in glossy heaps in the corners.

“Some day these will bring a good price from the Dutch traders at Albany,” said Robert, “and it may be, Tayoga, that you and I will need the money.  I’ve been a scout and warrior for a long time, and now I’ve suddenly turned fur hunter.  Well, that spirit of peace and of a friendly feeling toward all mankind grows upon me.  Why shouldn’t I be full of brotherly love when your patron saint, Tododaho, has been so kind to us?”

He swept the cave once more with a glance of approval.  It furnished shelter, warmth, food in abundance, and with its furs even a certain velvety richness for the eye, and Tayoga nodded assent.  Meanwhile they waited for the fierce blasts of the mountain winter.

CHAPTER VII

THE SLEEPING SENTINELS

A singular day came when it seemed to Robert that the wind alternately blew hot and cold, at least by contrast, and the deep, leaden skies were suffused with a peculiar mist that made him see all objects in a distorted fashion.  Everything was out of proportion.  Some were too large and some too small.  Either the world was awry or his own faculties had become discolored and disjointed.  While his interest in his daily toil decreased and his thoughts were vague and distant, his curiosity, nevertheless, was keen and concentrated.  He knew that something unusual was going to happen and nature was preparing him for it.

The occult quality in the air did not depart with the coming of night, though the winds no longer alternated, the warm blasts ceasing to blow, while the cold came steadily and with increasing fierceness.  Yet it was warm and close in the cave, and the two went outside for air, wandering up the face of the ridge that enclosed the northern side of their particular valley in the chain of little valleys.  Upon the summit they stood erect, and the face of Tayoga became rapt like that of a seer.  When Robert looked at him his own blood tingled.  The Onondaga shut his eyes, and he spoke not so much to Robert as to the air itself: 

“O Tododaho,” he said, “when mine eyes are open I do not see you because of the vast clouds that Manitou has heaped between, but when I close them the inner light makes me behold you sitting upon your star and looking down with kindness upon this, the humblest and least of your servants.  O Tododaho, you have given my valiant comrade and myself a safe home in the wilderness in our great need, and I beseech you that you will always hold your protecting shield between us and our enemies.”