Jack strained his eyes in the direction indicated, but for some seconds even his keen eyes did not notice anything unusual. At length, however, he perceived a thin column of smoke far away in the distance, rising above the forest and lake; then a second and a third column, but so faint as to be nearly indistinguishable.
"I see the smoke from the camp-fires of a party of hunters, perhaps Yengeese trappers, but nothing that threatens danger."
The sachem shook his head sagely, as he replied--
"No Yengeese! It is Algonquin smoke. A signal to the paleface warriors at the fort, who will hurry to burn their powder in the face of White Eagle. Too much price on Iroquois scalp!" And here the chief's face relaxed into the faintest of smiles, as though he appreciated the value that was placed upon his head by the French, and considered it a great honour and a tribute to his prowess and the impotence of his enemies.
Then for an instant his face became clouded and a momentary wave of irresolution passed over his countenance. To escape the net that was being drawn around him was comparatively easy, but to convey all the plunder of the expedition safely to the lodges of the Iroquois was another matter. His resolution, however, was quickly taken. They were now within ten miles of the mouth of a stream, called "Twelve Mile Creek," that entered the forest south of Lake Ontario, and only a dozen miles from the fort. To gain that creek, to take the loaded canoes up the stream against the rapids and rifts, and then to make a portage of four miles to gain the Niagara River above the fort, was the daring resolve of the White Eagle.
It was a piece of daring that was worthy of an Iroquois chief, who had already secured a reputation for reckless daring that was second to that of no other chief amongst the Six Nations. The great danger lay in the fact that at one bend in the stream they would be within seven or eight miles of the fort, with all the possibilities of being ambushed by their hated foes and also by the Frenchers.
The whole party now took to the canoes, and proceeded as rapidly and as silently as possible along the shore in a westerly direction. Soon after mid-day they reached the mouth of the creek, and without a moment's delay, except to land a couple of scouts on either bank, they paddled as quickly as possible up the narrow stream, while the scouts went ahead to explore the forest-lined banks and to give the alarm as soon as they should discover the slightest sign of the enemy, who could not now be far away. To these eager warriors their progress seemed to be painfully slow. Fallen trees sometimes blocked their way. At other times the canoes had to be dragged through the shallows and lifted over rocks.
It was hard work, but the youths bore their share of all this arduous toil. It was exciting, too, for at any moment they might hear the crack of the Algonquin and French rifles. Sometimes they were up to their knees in the water, pushing and lifting the canoes forward.
As they advanced further and further up the watercourse, for it could hardly be called a river, the creek narrowed and the trees overhung and interlaced, shutting out the sun, so that, though it was little past mid-day, it was scarcely more than twilight. Not a word was spoken for a while, and except for the music of the stream the forest was as silent as death. Even the birds had ceased to sing, and the little squirrels watched them furtively from the branches overhead, wondering what strange creatures these were who were toiling so arduously at the canoes.
Not a signal had come as yet from the scouts, on whom they were implicitly relying. They were getting perilously near to that fatal bend in the river where if an ambush was in hiding, it was sure to be. The Indians exchanged suspicious glances. They fingered their knives and tomahawks uneasily and frequently looked to the priming of their rifles.