“And if your weapons are not sufficient, Dagaeoga, you can make a speech to them and talk them to death.”

The hunter smiled.  He hoped the boys would always be willing to jest with each other in this manner.  It was good to have high spirits in a crisis.

“Take a little venison and hominy, lads,” he said, “because I think we’re going to spend some time in this most spacious and hospitable inn of ours.”

They ate and then were thirsty, but they had no water, although it floated peacefully in millions of gallons below.

“We’re dry, but I think we’re going to be much dryer,” said Willet.

“We must go down one by one in the night for water,” said Tayoga.

“We are to reckon on a long stay, then!” said Robert.

“Yes,” said Willet, “and we might as well make ourselves at home.  It’s a great climb down, but we’ll have to do it.”

“If I could get up and walk about it would be easier,” said Robert.  “I think my muscles are growing a bit stiff from disuse.”

“The descent for water to-night will loosen them up,” said Willet philosophically.

It was a tremendously long afternoon, one of the longest that Robert ever spent, and his position grew cramped and difficult.  He found some relief now and then in stretching his muscles, but there was nothing to assuage the intense thirst that assailed all three.  Robert’s throat and mouth were dry and burning, and he looked longingly at the lake that shimmered and gleamed below them.  The waters, sparkling in their brilliant and changing colors, were cool and inviting.  They bade him come, and his throat grew hotter and hotter, but he would make no complaint.  He must endure it in silence all the afternoon, and all the next day too, if they should be held there.

Late in the afternoon they heard shots again, but they were quite sure that the reports, as before, were due to Indian hunters.  Rogers with rangers might be somewhere in the region of the lakes, but they did not think he was anywhere near them.  If a skirmish was occurring on the cliff they would hear the shouts of the combatants.

“The warriors will have a feast to-night,” said Tayoga.

“And they will have plenty of water to drink,” said Robert ruefully.  “You remember that time when we were on the peak, and we found the spring in the slope?”

“But there is no spring here,” said Tayoga.  “We know that because we came up the cliff.  There is no water for us this side of the lake.”

The afternoon, long as it was, ended at last.  The intense burning sunlight faded, and the cool, grateful shadows came.  The three stirred in the niche, and Robert felt a little relief.  But his throat and mouth were still dry and hard, and they pained him whenever he talked.  Yet they forced themselves to eat a scant supper, although the food increased their thirst, but they knew that without it their strength would decrease, and they expected to obtain water in the dark.