He found at the bottom a narrow place between cliff and water, grown thickly with bushes, and he followed it at least half a mile, until the shores towered above him dark and steep, and the lake came up against them like a wall.  He could go no farther and he waded into a dense growth of bushes and weeds, where he stood up to his waist in water and waited, hidden well.

He knew that if the warriors followed and saw him he would have little opportunity to escape, but the chances were a hundred to one against their finding him in such a covert.  Rock and water had blotted out his trail and he felt safe.  He secured his belt, containing his smaller weapons and ammunition, about his shoulders beyond touch of water, and put his rifle in the forks of two bushes, convenient to his hands.

It was a luxury to rest, even if one did stand half-sunken in a lake.  The water was cold, but he did not yet feel the chill, and he listened for possible sounds of pursuit.  He heard, after a while, the calls of warriors to one another and he laughed softly to himself.  The shouts were faint and moreover they came from the crest of the cliff.  They had not found his trail down the slope and they were hunting for him on the heights.  He laughed again with sheer satisfaction.  He had been right.  Rock and water had come to his aid, and he was too well hidden even for the eager eyes of Tandakora and his warriors to follow him.

He waited a long time.  He heard the cries nearer him, then farther away, and, at last, at such a great distance that they could barely be separated from the lap of the waters.  He was growing cold now; the chill from the lake was rising in his body, but with infinite patience bred by long practice of the wilderness he did not stir.  He knew that silence could be deceptive.  Some of the warriors might come back, and might wait in a thicket, hoping that he would rise and disclose himself, thinking the danger past.  More than one careless wanderer in the past had been caught in such a manner, and he was resolved to guard against the trick.  Making the last call upon his patience, he stood motionless, while the chill crept steadily upward through his veins and muscles.

He could see the surface of the open lake through the veil of bushes and tall grass.  The water broke in gentle waves under a light wind, and kept up a soft sighing that was musical and soothing.  Had he been upon dry land he could have closed his eyes and gone to sleep, but, as it was, he did not complain, since he had found safety, if not comfort.  He even found strength in himself, despite his situation, to admire the gleaming expanse of Andiatarocte with its shifting colors, and the far cliffs lofty and dim.

Much of Robert’s life, much of its most eventful portion, was passing around this lake, and he had a peculiar affection for it.  It always aroused in him a sense of beauty, of charm and of majesty, and he had grown too to look upon it as a friend and protector.  He believed that it had brought him good luck, and he did not doubt that it would do so again.