"There is another valley beyond the ridge," said Tayoga, "and a war party is encamped in it. They sit by their fire and eat prodigiously of deer they have killed."
Robert was startled, but he kept silent, he, too, knowing that Tayoga would tell all he intended to tell without urging.
"They do not know we are here, I do not think they dream of our presence," continued the Onondaga, "Areskoui smiles on us now, and Tododaho on his star, which we cannot see by day, is watching over us. Their feet will not bring them this way."
"Then you wouldn't suggest our taking to flight?" said Willet. "You would favor hiding here in peace?"
"Even so. It will please us some day to remember that we rested and slept almost within hearing of our enemies, and yet they did not take us."
"That's grim humor, Tayoga, but if it's the way you feel, Robert and I are with you."
Later in the afternoon they saw smoke rising beyond the ridge and they knew the warriors had built a great fire before which they were probably lying and gorging themselves, after their fashion when they had plenty of food, and little else to do. Yet the three remained defiantly all that day and all through the following night. The next morning, with ample supplies in their packs, they turned their faces southward, and cautiously climbed the ridge in that direction, once more passing into the region of the peaks. To their surprise they struck several comparatively fresh trails in the passes, and they were soon forced to the conclusion that the hostile forces were still all about them. Near midday they stopped in a narrow gorge between high peaks and listened to calls of the inhabitants of the forest, the faint howls of wolves, and once or twice the yapping of a fox.
"The warriors signaling to one another!" said Willet.
"It is so," said Tayoga. "I think they have noticed our tracks in the earth, too slight, perhaps, to tell who we are, but they will undertake to see."
"I hear the call of a moose directly ahead," said Robert, "although I know it is no moose that makes it. Our way there is cut off."