Tandakora said something to the French officers, and they too looked at the island, but the fleeing canoe danced on the crest of a high wave and its call was potent in the souls of white men and red alike.  It was still too far away for them to tell that it was empty.  Sudden fear assailed them in the darkness, that it would escape and with it the three who had eluded them so often, and whom they wanted most to take.  Tandakora spoke sharply to the paddlers, who bent to their task with increased energy.  The long canoe leaped forward, and with it the others.

“Manitou has stretched forth his hand once more, and he has stretched it between our enemies and us,” said Tayoga, in a voice of deep emotion.

“It’s so, lad,” said the hunter, his own voice shaking a little.  “I truly believe you’re right when you say that as the bird was sent to save Robert so a good spirit was put into the canoe to save us all.  Who am I and who is anybody to question the religion and beliefs of another man?”

“Nor will I question them,” said Robert, with emphasis.

They were stalwart men in the Indian fleet, skilled and enduring with the paddle, and the fugitive canoe danced before them, a will o’ the wisp that they must pursue without rest.  Their own canoes leaped forward, and, as the arrow into which they were formed shot past the island, the three hidden in its heart drew the deep, long breaths of those who have suddenly passed from death to life.

“We won’t stop ’em!” said Robert in a whimsical tone.  “Speed ye, Tandakora, speed ye!  Speed ye, De Courcelles and De Jumonville of treacherous memory!  If you don’t hasten, the flying canoe will yet escape you!  More power to your arms, O ye paddlers!  Bend to your strokes!  The canoe that you pursue is light and it is carried in the heart of the wind!  You have no time to lose, white men and red, if you would reach the precious prize!  The faster you go the better you will like it!  And the better we will, too!  On! swift canoes, on!”

“The imagination of Dagaeoga has been kindled again,” said Tayoga, “and the bird with a golden note has gone into his throat.  Now he can talk, and talk much, without ever feeling weariness—­as is his custom.”

“At least I have something to talk about,” laughed Robert.  “I was never before so glad to see the backs of anybody, as I am now to look at the backs of those Indians and Frenchmen.”

“We won’t do anything to stop ’em,” said the hunter.

From their hillock they saw the fleet sweep on at a great rate toward the south, while the fires in the north, no longer necessary to the Indian plan, began to die.  The red tint on the water then faded, and the surface of the lake became a solemn gray.

“It’s well for us those fires sank,” said the hunter, “because while Tandakora has gone on we can’t live all the rest of our lives on this little island.  We’ve got to get to the mainland somehow without being seen.”