“The forest will be full of warriors,” said Tayoga, speaking with great gravity.  “The fort will be the first thought of the western barbarians, and of the tribes from Canada, and they will wish to avenge the defeat they suffered before it.”

It was not long until they had ample proof that the Onondaga’s words were true.  They saw three trails in the course of the day, and all of them led toward the fort.  Willet and Tayoga, with their wonderful knowledge of the forest, estimated that about thirty warriors made one trail, about twenty another, and fifteen the smallest.

“They’re going fast, too,” said the hunter, “but we must go faster.”

“They will see our traces,” said Tayoga, “and by signaling to one another they will tell all that we are in the woods.  Then they will set a force to destroy us, while the greater bands go on to take the fort.”

“But we’ll pass ’em,” said Robert confidently.  “They can’t stop us!”

Tayoga and the hunter glanced at him.  Then they looked at each other and smiled.  They knew Robert thoroughly, they understood his vivid and enthusiastic nature which, looking forward with so much confidence to success, was apt to consider it already won, a fact that perhaps contributed in no small measure to the triumph wished so ardently.  At last, the horror of the great defeat in the forest and the slaughter of an army was passing.  It was Robert’s hopeful temperament and brilliant mind that gave him such a great charm for all who met him, a charm to which even the fifty wise old sachems in the vale of Onondaga had not been insensible.

“No, Robert,” said the Great Bear gravely, “I don’t think anything can stop us.  I’ve a prevision that De Courcelles and Tandakora will stand in our way, but we’ll just brush ’em out of it.”

They had not ceased to march at speed, while they talked, and now Tayoga announced the presence of a river, an obstacle that might prove formidable to foresters less expert than they.  It was lined on both sides with dense forest, and they walked along its bank about a mile until they came to a comparatively shallow place where they forded it in water above their knees.  However, their leggings and moccasins dried fast in the midsummer sun, and, experiencing no discomfort, they pressed forward with unabated speed.

All the afternoon they continued their great journey to save those at the fort, fording another river and a half dozen creeks and leaping across many brooks.  Twice they crossed trails leading to the east and twice other trails leading to the west, but they felt that all of them would presently turn and join in the general march converging upon Fort Refuge.  They were sure, too, that De Courcelles, Tandakora and their band were marching on a line almost parallel with them, and that they would offer the greatest danger.

Night came, a beautiful, bright summer night with a silky blue sky in which multitudes of silver stars danced, and they sought a covert in a dense thicket where they lay on their blankets, ate venison, and talked a little before they slept.