“You have surely done enough for one night, Dagaeoga,” he said.  “Tododaho himself, after doing so much, would have rested.  Lie down now on your blanket and I will watch for the remainder of the darkness.  It is true my left arm is lame and of no use for the present, but nothing will come.”

“I’ll do as you tell me, Tayoga,” said Robert, “but first I give you back your bow and arrows.  They’ve served us well, though I little thought I’d ever have to do work as a bowman.”

He was glad enough to stretch himself on the blanket and leaves, as he realized that despite his will he had become weak.  Presently he sank into a deep slumber.  When he awoke the sun was shining in the mouth of the cave and Tayoga was offering him some of the tenderest of the moose steak.

“Eat, Dagaeoga,” he said.  “Though a warrior of the clan of the Bear, of the nation Onondaga of the great League of the Hodenosaunee, I am proud to serve the king of bowmen.”

“Cease your jesting at my expense, Tayoga.”

“It is not wholly a jest, but eat.”

“I will.  Have you seen what is outside?”

“Not yet.  We will take our breakfast together, and then we will go forth to see what we may see.”

They ate heartily, and then with rifles cocked passed into the defile, where they found only the bones of wolves, picked clean by the others.  But the skeleton of the huge leader was gone, although the arrow that had slain him was lying among the rocks.

“The living must have dragged away his bones.  A curious thing to do,” said Robert.

Tayoga was silent.

CHAPTER XIII

TANDAKORA’S GRASP

They spent two more days in the cave, and Tayoga’s marvelous cure proceeded with the same marvelous rapidity.  Robert repeatedly bathed the wound for him, and then redressed it, so the air could not get to it.  The Onondaga was soon able to flex the fingers well and then to use the arm a little.

“It is sure now,” he said joyfully, “that Waraiyageh and Dieskau cannot meet before I am able to do battle.”

“Anyhow, they wouldn’t think of fighting until you came, Tayoga,” said Robert.

Their spirits were very high.  They felt that they had been released from great danger, some of which they could not fathom, and they would soon leave the hollow.  Action would bring relief, and they anticipated eagerly what the world outside might disclose to them.  Robert collected all the arrows he had shot in the fight with the wolf pack, cleaned them and restored them to the quiver.  They also put a plentiful supply of the moose meat in their packs, and then he said: 

“Which way, Tayoga?”

“There is but one way.”

“You mean we should press on toward Crown Point, and find out what has become of our comrades?”

“That is it.  We must know how ended their battle with St. Luc.”