“Of course, I told him that we had been living and hunting, for years, in the English colony, but that, hearing that the Mohawks had joined the French, we had come to fight beside our brothers.  He asked a few questions, and then passed on.  But I could see the varmin was not satisfied, though, in course, he pretended to be glad to welcome us back to the tribe.  So we hung about the camp for another half hour, and then made a sweep before we came out here.  I didn’t look round, but Jonathan stooped, as if the lace of his moccasin had come undone, and managed to look back, but, in course, he didn’t see anything.”

“Then you have no reason to believe you are followed, Nat?”

“Don’t I tell you I have every reason?” Nat said.  “If that redskin, the Owl, has got any suspicion—­and suspicion you may be sure he’s got—­he won’t rest till he’s cleared the matter up.  He is after us, sure enough.”

“Then had we not better make for the canoe at full speed?”

“No,” Nat said.  “If they are behind us, they will be watching our trail; and if they see we change our pace, they will be after us like a pack of wolves; while, as long as we walk slowly and carelessly, they will let us go.  If it were dark, we might make a run for it, but there ain’t no chance at present.  If we took to the lake, we should have a hundred canoes after us, while the woods are full of Indians, and a whoop of the Owl would bring a hundred of them down onto our track.”

“Why shouldn’t the Owl have denounced you at once, if he suspected you?” James asked.

“Because it ain’t redskin nature to do anything, till you are sure,” the scout replied.  “There is nothing a redskin hates so much as to be wrong, and he would rather wait, for weeks, to make sure of a thing, than run the risk of making a mistake.  I don’t suppose he takes us for whites.  He expects we belong to some other tribe, come in as spies.”

“Then what are you thinking of doing?” James asked.

“We will go on a bit further,” Nat said, “in hopes of coming across some stream, where we may hide our trail.  If we can’t find that, we will sit down, before long, and eat as if we was careless and in no hurry.”

For a time, they walked on in silence.

“Do you think they are close to us?” James asked, presently.

“Not far away,” the scout said carelessly.  “So long as they see we ain’t hurrying, they will go easy.  They will know, by this time, that we have a white man with us, and, like enough, the Owl will have sent back for one or two more of his warriors.  Likely enough, he only took one with him, at first, seeing we were but two, and that he reckoned on taking us by surprise; but, when he saw you joined us, he would send back for perhaps a couple more.”

“Then what I would suggest,” James said, “is, that we should at once stroll down to our canoe, put it in the water, and paddle out a few hundred yards, and there let down the lines we have got on board, and begin to fish.  As long as we are quiet there, the redskins may not interfere with us, and, when it gets dark, we can make off.  At the worst, we have a chance for it, and it seems to me anything would be better than this sort of wandering about, when we know that, at any time, we may have them down upon us.”