“I was standing theer on the water’s edge not six feet away from that canoe.  I never moved for two hours, and, quiet as a redskin may be, he must have taken time to do that damage, so as I never heard a sound as loud as the falling of a leaf.  No, I reckon as he was at the very least two hours over that job.  He may have been gone four hours or a bit over, but not more; but that don’t give us much of a start.  It would take him an hour and a half to get to the fort, then he would have to report to the French chap in command, and then there might be some talk before he set out with the redskins, leaving the French to follow.”

“It’s no use thinking of mending the canoes, I suppose,” James asked.

The hunter shook his head.

“It would take two or three hours to get fresh bark and mend those holes,” he said, “and we haven’t got as many minutes to spare.  There, now, we are off.”

While they had been speaking, Rogers had been holding a consultation with two or three of his most experienced followers, and they had arrived at pretty nearly the same conclusion as that of Rogers, namely, that the Indian had probably taken two or three hours in damaging the canoes and getting fairly away into the forest; but that, even if he had done so, the Iroquois would be up in the course of half an hour.

“Let each man pack his share of meat on his back,” Rogers said.  “Don’t leave a scrap behind.  Quick, lads, there’s not a minute to be lost.  It’s a case of legs, now.  There’s no hiding the trail of thirty men from redskin eyes.”

In a couple of minutes, all were ready for the start, and Rogers at once led the way, at a long slinging trot, straight back from the lake, first saying: 

“Pick your way, lads, and don’t tread on a fallen stick.  There is just one chance of saving our scalps, and only one, and that depends upon silence.”

As James ran along, at the heels of Nat, he was struck with the strangeness of the scene, and the noiselessness with which the band of moccasin-footed men flitted among the trees.  Not a word was spoken.  All had implicit confidence in their leader, the most experienced bush fighter on the frontier, and knew that, if anyone could lead them safe from the perils that surrounded them, it was Rogers.

James wondered what his plan could be.  It seemed certain to him that the Indians must, sooner or later, overtake them.  They would be aware of the strength of the band, and, confiding in their superior numbers, would be able to push forward in pursuit without pausing for many precautions.  Once overtaken, the band must stand at bay, and, even could they hold the Indians in check, the sound of the firing would soon bring the French soldiers to the spot.

They had been gone some twenty minutes only, when a distant war whoop rose in the forest behind them.

“They have come down on the camp,” Nat said, glancing round over his shoulder, “and find we have left it.  I expect they hung about a little before they ventured in, knowing as we should be expecting them, when we found the canoes was useless.  That war whoop tells ’em all as we have gone.  They will gather there, and then be after us like a pack of hounds.