“You can eat just as much of the moose steak as you like, and the quicker you begin the better you will please me, because my manners won’t allow me to start first.  Fall on, Tayoga!  Fall on!”

They ate hungrily and long.  They would have been glad had they bread also, but they did not waste time in vain regrets.  When they had finished and the measure of their happiness was full, they extinguished the coals carefully, hid their store of moose meat on a high ledge in the cave, and withdrew also to its shelter.

“How much stronger do you feel now, Tayoga?” asked Robert.

“In the language of your schools, my strength has increased at least fifty per cent in the last hour.”

“I’ve the strength of two men myself now, and thinking it over, Tayoga, I’ve come to the conclusion that was the best moose I ever tasted.  He was a big bull, and he may not have been young, but he furnished good steaks.  I’m sorry he had to die, but he died in a good cause.”

“Even so, Dagaeoga, and since we have eaten tremendously and have cooked much of the meat for further use, it would be best for us to put out the fire, and hide all trace of it, a task in which I am strong enough to help you.”

They extinguished carefully every brand and coal, and even went so far as to take dead leaves from the cave and throw them over the remains of the fire in careless fashion as if they had been swept there by the wind.

“And now,” said Robert, “if I had the power I would summon from the sky another mighty rain to hide all signs of our banquet and of the preparations for it.  Suppose, Tayoga, you pray to Tododaho and Areskoui for it and also project your mind so forcibly in the direction of your wish that the wish will come true.”

“It is well not to push one’s favor too far,” replied Tayoga gravely.  “The heavens are too bright and shining now for rain.  Moreover, if one should pray every day for help, Tododaho and Areskoui would grow tired of giving it.  I think, however, that we have covered our traces well, and the chance of discovery here by our enemies is remote.”

They put away the moose meat on a high ledge in the cave, and sat down again to wait.  Tayoga’s wound was healing rapidly.  The miracle for which he had hoped was happening.  His recovery was faster than that of any other injured warrior whom he had ever known.  He could fairly feel the clean flesh knitting itself together in innumerable little fibers, and already he could move his left arm, and use the fingers of his left hand.  Being a stoic, and hiding his feelings as he usually did, he said: 

“I shall recover, I shall be wholly myself again in time for the great battle between the army of Waraiyageh and that of Dieskau.”

“I think, too, that we’ll be in it,” said Robert confidently.  “Armies move slowly and they won’t come together for quite a while yet.  Meantime, I’m wondering what became of the rangers and the Mohawks.”