"I'm not hungry!" he exclaimed. "It was the delusion of a moment, and it passed as quickly as it came. I suffer from such brief spells."
The others laughed.
"That's the right spirit," said Willet, "and while we have nothing to eat we have lots of hope. I've been hungrier than this often, and, as you see, I've never starved to death a single time. There's always lots of food somewhere in the wilderness, if you only know how to put your hand on it."
"I think it is now best for us to follow on the trail of Black Rifle," said Tayoga.
"That's so," responded the hunter. "It's grown a lot colder, while you lads slept, though I think you can follow it without any trouble, Tayoga."
The red lad said nothing, but at once picked up the traces, which now led south, slanting back a little toward the lake.
"Black Rifle was going fast," he said. "His stride lengthens. He must have divined where St. Luc with his force lay, and he took a direct course for it. Ah, he turns suddenly aside and walks to and fro."
"That's curious," said the hunter. "I see the footprints all about.
What did Black Rifle mean by moving about in such a manner?"
"It is not odd at all," said Tayoga. "Doubtless Black Rifle was suffering from the same lack that we are, and it was necessary for him to provision his army of one at once. He suddenly saw a chance to do so and he turned aside from his direct journey toward the south. So we shall soon see where Black Rifle shot his bear."
"And why not a deer?" said Grosvenor.