Full warrant had they for their expectations, as nothing seemed more peaceful than the wilderness.  The flames from the cooking fires threw their ruddy light over bough and bush, and disclosed no enemy, and, as the glow of the coals died down, the peaceful tails of the night birds showed that the forest was undisturbed.

Far in the night, Robert, Tayoga and Willet crept through the woods to Fort Duquesne.  They found many small trails of both white men and red men, but none indicating a large force.  At last they saw a light under the western horizon, which they believed to come from Duquesne itself.

“Perhaps they’ve burned the fort and are abandoning it,” said Robert.

Willet shook his head.

“Not likely,” he said.  “It’s more probable that the light comes from great fires, around which the savages are dancing the war dance.”

“What do you think, Tayoga?”

“That the Great Bear is right.”

“But surely,” said Robert, “they can’t hope to withstand an army like ours.”

“Robert,” said Willet, “you’ve lived long enough in it to know that anything is possible in the wilderness.  Contrecoeur, the French commander at Duquesne, is a brave and capable man.  Beaujeu, who stands next to him, has, they say, a soul of fire.  You know what St. Luc is, the bravest of the brave, and as wise as a fox, and Dumas and Ligneris are great partisan leaders.  Do you think these men will run away without a fight?”

“But they must depend chiefly on the Indians!”

“Even so.  They won’t let the Indians run away either.  We’re bound to have some kind of a battle somewhere, though we ought to win.”

“Do you know the general’s plans for tomorrow?”

“We’re to start at dawn.  We’ll cross the Monongahela for the second time about noon, or a little later, and then, if the French and Indians have run away, as you seemed a little while ago to believe they would, we’ll proceed, colors flying into the fort.”

“If the enemy makes a stand I should think it would be at the ford.”

“Seems likely.”

“Come!  Come, Dave!  Be cheerful.  If they meet us at the ford or anywhere else we’ll brush ’em aside.  That big body of French regulars from Canada hasn’t come—­we know that—­and there isn’t force enough in Duquesne to withstand us.”

Willet did not say anything more, but his steps were not at all buoyant as they walked back toward the camp.  Robert, lying on a blanket, slept soundly before one of the fires, but awoke at dawn, and took breakfast with Willet, Tayoga, Grosvenor and the two young Virginians, Stuart and Cabell.

“We’ll be in Duquesne tonight,” said the sanguine Stuart.

“In very truth we will,” said the equally confident Grosvenor.

The dawn came clear and brilliant, and the army advanced, to the music of a fine band.  The light cavalry led the way, then came a detachment of sailors who had been loaned by Admiral Keppel, followed by the English regulars in red and the Virginians in blue.  Behind them came the cannon, the packhorses, and all the elements that make up the train of an army.