CHAPTER X
THE NAVAL COMBAT
Robert and Tayoga went into a long boat with Willet, a boat that heldeight men, all carrying paddles, while their rifles were laid on thebottom, ready to be substituted for the paddles when the time came.Daganoweda was in another of the large boats, and Rogers commanded athird, the whole fleet advancing slowly and in almost a straight linetoward St. Luc's stronghold.
Doubtless many a combat between Indians had taken place on Andiataroctein the forgotten ages, but Robert believed the coming encounter would bethe first in which white men had a part, and, for the moment, he forgothis danger in the thrilling spectacle that opened before him.
St. Luc, when he saw the enemy approaching, quickly launched his ownfleet, and filled it with men, although he kept it well in the lee ofthe land, and behind it posted a formidable row of marksmen, French,Canadians and Indians. Rogers, who had the general command, paddled hisboat a little in front of the others and examined the defense cautiouslythrough his glasses. Tayoga could see well enough with the naked eye.
"St. Luc is leaning on the stump of a wind-blown tree near the water,"he said, "and he holds in his hand his small sword with which he willdirect the battle. But there is a canoe almost at his feet, and if needbe he will go into it. De Courcelles is in a large boat on the right,and Tandakora is in another on the left. On the land, standing behindSt. Luc, is the Canadian, Dubois."
"A very good arrangement to meet us," said Willet. "St. Luc will stay onthe island, but if he finds we're pressing him too hard, he'll havehimself paddled squarely into the center of his fleet, and do or die.Now, it's a lucky thing for us that our rangers are such fine marksmen,and that they have the good, long-barreled rifles."
The boats containing the Mohawks were held back under the instructionsof Rogers, despite the eagerness of Daganoweda, who, however, wascompelled to yield to the knowledge that red men were never equal to thefinest white sharpshooters, and it was important to use the advantagegiven to them by the long rifles. Willet's boat swung in by the side ofthat of Rogers, and several more boats and canoes, containing rangers,drew level with them. Rogers measured the distance anxiously.
"Do you think you can reach them with your rifle, Dave?" he asked.
"A few yards more and a bullet will count," replied the hunter.
"We'll go ahead, then, and tell me as soon as you think we're nearenough. All our best riflemen are in front, and we should singe them abit."
The boats glided slowly on, and, at the island, the enemy was attentiveand waiting, with the advantage wholly on his side, had it not been forthe rifles of great range, surpassing anything the French and Indianscarried. St. Luc did not move from his position, and he was a heroicfigure magnified in the dazzling sunlight.
Willet held up his hand.
"This will do," he said.
At a sign from Rogers the entire fleet stopped, and, at another signfrom Willet, twenty rangers, picked marksmen, raised their rifles andfired. Several of the French and Indians fell, and their comrades gaveforth a great shout of rage. Those in the canoes and boats fired, butall their bullets fell short, merely pattering in vain on the water.Daganoweda and his warriors, when they saw the result, uttered anexultant war whoop that came back in echoes from the mountains. Rogershimself rejoiced openly.
"That's the way to do it, Dave!" he cried. "Reload and give 'em anothervolley. Unless they come out and attack us we can decimate 'em."
Although it was hard to restrain the rangers, who wished to crowdcloser, Rogers and Willet nevertheless were able to make them keep theirdistance, and they maintained a deadly fire that picked off warriorafter warrior and that threatened the enemy with destruction. St. Luc'sIndians uttered shouts of rage and fired many shots, all of which fellshort. Then Robert saw St. Luc leave the stump and enter his waitingcanoe.
"They'll come to meet us now," he said. "We've smoked 'em out."
"Truly they will," said Tayoga. "They must advance or die at the land'sedge."
The portion of his fleet which St. Luc and his men had managed to savewas almost as large as that of the Americans and Mohawks, and seeingthat they must do it, they put out boldly from the land, St. Luc in thecenter in his canoe, paddled by a single Indian. As they approached, therifles of Daganoweda's men came into action also, and St. Luc's forcereplied with a heavy fire. The naval battle was on, and it was foughtwith all the fury of a great encounter by fleets on the high seas.Robert saw St. Luc in his canoe, giving orders both with his voice andthe waving of his sword, while the single Indian in the light craftpaddled him to and fro as he wished, stoically careless of the bullets.
In the heat and fury of the combat the fleet of Rogers came under thefire of the French and Indians on the island, many being wounded andsome slain. These reserves of St. Luc in their eagerness waded waistdeep into the water, and pulled trigger as fast as they could load andreload.
A ranger in Willet's boat was killed and two more received hurts, butthe hunter kept his little command in the very thick of the battle, anddespite the great cloud of smoke that covered the fleets of both sidesRobert soon saw that the rangers and Mohawks were winning. One of thelarger boats belonging to St. Luc, riddled with bullets, went down, andthe warriors who had been in it were forced to swim for their lives.Several canoes were rammed and shattered. Willet and Tayoga meanwhilewere calmly picking their targets through the smoke, and when theyfired they never missed.
The rangers, too, were showing their superiority as sharpshooters to theFrench and Indians, and were doing deadly execution with their longrifles. St. Luc, in spite of the great courage shown by his men, wascompelled to sound the recall, and, hurriedly taking on board all theFrench and Indians who were on land, he fled eastward across the lakewith the remnant of his force. Rogers pursued, but St. Luc was stillable to send back such a deadly fire and his French and Indians workedso desperately with the paddles that they reached the eastern rim,abandoned the fragments of their fleet, climbed the lofty shore anddisappeared in the forest, leaving Rogers, Willet, Daganoweda and theirmen in triumphant command of Andiatarocte, for a little while, at least.
But the victors bore many scars. More men had been lost, and their forcesuffered a sharp reduction in numbers. The three leaders, still in theirboats, conferred. Daganoweda was in favor of landing and of pushing thepursuit to the utmost, even to the walls of Crown Point on Champlain,where the fugitives would probably go.
"There's much in favor of it," said Willet. "There's nothing likefollowing a beaten enemy and destroying him, and there is also much tobe said against it. We might run into an ambush and be destroyedourselves. Although we've paid a price for it, we've a fine victory andwe hold command of the lake for the time being. By pushing on we riskall we've won in order to obtain more."
But Daganoweda was still eager to advance, and urged it in a spiritedMohawk speech. Rogers himself favored it. The famous leader of rangershad a bold and adventurous mind. No risk was too great for him, anddangers, instead of repelling, invited him.
Robert, as became him, listened to them in silence. Prudence told himthat they ought to stay on the lake, but his was the soul of youth, andthe fiery eloquence of Daganoweda found an answer in his heart. It wasdecided at last to leave a small guard with the fleet, while rangers andMohawks to the number of fifty should pursue toward Oneadatote. Allthree of the leaders, with Black Rifle, Tayoga and Robert, were to sharein the pursuit, while a trusty man named White was left in command ofthe guard over the boats.
The fifty--the force had been so much reduced by the fighting that nomore could be mustered--climbed the lofty shore, making their way up aravine, thick with brush, until they came out on a crest more than athousand feet above the lake. Nor did they forget, as they climbed, toexercise the utmost caution, looking everywhere for an ambush. They knewthat St. Luc, while defeated, would never be dismayed, and it would belike him to turn on the rangers and Mohawks in the very moment of theirvictory and snatch it from them. But there was no sign of a foe
'spresence, although Daganoweda's men soon struck the trail of the fleeingenemy.
They paused at the summit a minute or two for breath, and Robert lookedback with mixed emotions at Andiatarocte, a vast sheet of blue, then ofgreen under the changing sky, the scene of a naval victory of which hehad not dreamed a few days ago. But the lake bore no sign of strife now.The islands were all in peaceful green and the warlike boats were gone,save at the foot of the cliff they had just climbed. There they, too,looked peaceful enough, as if they were the boats of fishermen, and theguards, some of whom were aboard the fleet and some of whom lay at easenear the edge of the water, seemed to be men engaged in pursuits thathad nothing to do with violence and war.
Tayoga's eyes followed Robert's.
"Andiatarocte is worth fighting for," he said. "It is well for us to bethe rulers of it, even for a day. Where will you find a more splendidlake, a lake set deep in high green mountains, a lake whose waters maytake on a dozen colors within a day, and every color beautiful?"
"I don't believe the world can show its superior, Tayoga," repliedRobert, "and I, like you, am full of pride, because we are lords of itfor a day. I hope the time will soon come when we shall be permanentrulers of both lakes, Andiatarocte and Oneadatote."
"We shall have to be mighty warriors before that hour arrives," saidTayoga, gravely. "Even if we gain Andiatarocte we have yet to secure afooting on the shores of Oneadatote. The French and their allies are notonly in great force at Crown Point, but we hear that they mean tofortify also at the place called Ticonderoga by the Hodenosaunee andCarillon by the French."
The order to resume the march came, and they pressed forward on thetrail through the deep woods. Usually at this time of the year it washot in the forest, but after the great storm and rain of the nightbefore a brisk, cool wind moved in waves among the trees, shaking theleaves and sending lingering raindrops down on the heads of thepursuers.
Black Rifle curved off to the right as a flanker against ambush, and twoof Daganoweda's best scouts were sent to the left, while the main forcewent on directly, feeling now that the danger from a hidden force hadbeen diminished greatly, their zeal increasing as the trail grew warmer.Daganoweda believed that they could overtake St. Luc in three or fourhours, and he and his Mohawks, flushed with victory on the lake, werenow all for speed, the rangers being scarcely less eager.
The country through which they were passing was wooded heavily, wild,picturesque and full of game. But it was well known to Mohawks andrangers, and the two lads had also been through it. They started up manydeer that fled through the forest, and the small streams and ponds werecovered with wild fowl.
"I don't wonder that the settlers fail to come in here on this strip ofland between George and Champlain," said Robert to Tayoga. "It's a NoMan's land, roamed over only by warriors, and even the most daringfrontiersman must have some regard for the scalp on his head."
"I could wish it to be kept a No Man's land," said Tayoga earnestly.
"Maybe it will--for a long time, anyway. But, Tayoga, you're as good atrailer as Black Rifle or any Mohawk. Judging from the traces theyleave, how many men would you say St. Luc now has with him?"
"As many as we have, or more, perhaps seventy, though their quality isnot as good. The great footprint in the center of the trail is made byTandakora. He, at least, has not fallen, and the prints that turn outare those of St. Luc, De Courcelles and doubtless of the officerJumonville. The French leaders walked together, and here they stoppedand talked a minute or two. St. Luc was troubled, and it was hard forhim to make up his mind what to do."
"How do you know that, Tayoga?"
"Because, as he stood by the side of this bush, he broke three of itslittle stems between his thumb and forefinger. See, here are the stumps.A man like St. Luc would not have had a nervous hand if he had not beenperplexed greatly."
"But how do you know it was St. Luc who stood by the bush, and not DeCourcelles or Jumonville?"
"Because I have been trained from infancy, as an Onondaga and Iroquois,to notice everything. We have to see to live, and I observed long agothat the feet of St. Luc were smaller than those of De Courcelles orJumonville. You will behold the larger imprints that turn out just here,and they face St. Luc, who stood by the bush. Once they not only thoughtof turning back to meet us, but actually prepared to do so."
"What proof have you?"
"O Dageaoga, you would not have asked me that question if you had usedyour eyes, and had thought a little. The print is so simple that alittle child may read. The toes of their moccasins at a point justbeyond the bush turn about, that is, back on the trail. And here thehuge moccasins of Tandakora have taken two steps back. Perhaps theyintended to meet us in full face or to lay an ambush, but at last theycontinued in their old course and increased their speed."
"How do you know they went faster, Tayoga?"
"O Dagaeoga, is your mind wandering today that your wits are so dull?See, how the distance between the imprints lengthens! When you runfaster you leap farther. Everybody does."
"I apologize, Tayoga. It was a foolish question to be asked by one whohas lived in the forest as long as I have. Why do you think theyincreased their speed, and how does St. Luc know that they arefollowed?"
"It may be that they know a good place of ambush farther ahead, and St.Luc is sure that he is pursued, because he knows the minds of Willet,Rogers and Daganoweda. He knows they are the kind of minds that alwaysfollow and push a victory to the utmost. Here the warriors knelt anddrank. They had a right to be thirsty after such a battle and such aretreat."
He pointed to numerous imprints by the bank of a clear brook, andrangers and Mohawks, imitating the example of those whom they pursued,drank thirstily. Then they resumed the advance, and they soon saw thatthe steps of St. Luc's men were shortening.
"They are thinking again of battle or ambush," said Tayoga, "and whenthey think of it a second time they are likely to try it. It becomes usnow to go most warily."
Daganoweda and Willet also had noticed St. Luc's change of pace, andstopping, they took counsel with themselves. About two miles ahead thecountry was exceedingly rough, cut by rocky ravines, and covered heavilywith forest and thickets.
"If St. Luc elects to make a stand," said Willet, "that is the place hewill choose. What say you, Daganoweda?"
"I think as the Great Bear thinks," replied the Mohawk chieftain.
"And you, Rogers?"
"Seems likely to me, too. At any rate, we must reckon on it."
"And so reckoning on it, we'd better stop and throw out more scouts."
Both Rogers and Daganoweda agreed, and flankers were sent off in eachdirection. Tayoga asked earnestly for this service, and Robert insistedon going with him. As the great skill of the Onondaga was known to thethree leaders, he was obviously the proper selection for the errand, andit was fitting that Robert, his comrade in so many dangers andhardships, should accompany him. Daganoweda and Rogers said yes at once,and Willet was not able to say no. They were the best choice for such anerrand, and although the hunter was reluctant for the youth, who wasalmost a son to him, to go on such a perilous duty, he knew that he mustyield to the necessity.
The two lads went off to the left or northern flank, and in less than aminute the deep forest hid them completely from the main force. Theywere buried in the wilderness, and, for all the evidence that came tothem, the band of rangers and Mohawks had ceased to exist.
They passed about a half mile to the north of the main force, and thenthey began to look everywhere for traces of trails, or evidence that anambush was being prepared.
"Do you think St. Luc will make a new stand at the ridges?" askedRobert.
"All the chances favor it," replied the Onondaga. "We know that SharpSword, besides being a great leader, is full of pride. He will not liketo go to Crown Point, and report that he has not only lost his fleet andthe temporary command of Andiatarocte, but a large part of his force aswell. If he can strike a heavy and deadly blow at his pursuers he willfe
el much better."
"Your reasoning seems good to me, and, therefore, it behooves us to bemighty careful. What do you take this imprint to be, Tayoga? Is it thatof a human foot?"
"It is so very faint one can tell little of it. Your eye was keen,Dagaeoga, to have seen it at all, though I think the hoof of a buck andnot the foot of a man trod here on the fallen leaves, but the tread wasso light that it left only a partial impression."
"I can find no other trace like it farther on."
"No, the ground grows very hard and rocky, and it leaves no impression.We will advance for a little while toward the ridge, and then it will bewell for us to lie down in some cover and watch, because I think St. Lucwill send out skirmishers."
"And naturally he will send them to both right and left as we do."
"Of course, Dagaeoga."
"And then, if we keep moving on, we're sure to meet them?"
"It would appear so, Dagaeoga."
"And for that reason, Tayoga, I'm in favor of the greatest care. I hopewe'll come soon to a covert so deep and thick that when we hide in it wecan't be seen five yards away."
"So do I, Dagaeoga. It is no shame to us to wish to save our lives.Lost, they would be of no use either to ourselves or to those whom weare here to serve. I think I see now the place that is waiting for us."
He pointed to a dense clump of scrub cedars growing on hard and rockyground.
"I see," said Robert. "We can approach it without leaving any trail, andin that mass of green no foe will notice us unless his eyes are almostagainst us."
"Dagaeoga, at times, shows understanding and wisdom. The day may comewhen he will be a great scout and trailer--if he lives long enough."
"Go ahead, Tayoga, if it amuses you to make game of me. If humor can beproduced at such a time I'm glad to be the occasion of it."
"It's best for us, Dagaeoga, to await all things with a light heart. Ourfates are in the hands of Manitou."
"That's good philosophy, Tayoga, though I'm bound to say I can't lookupon my life as a thing mapped out for me in every detail, though I liveto be a hundred. Manitou knows what's going to happen, but I don't, andso my heart will jump anyhow when the danger comes. Now, you're surewe've left no trail among those rocks?"
"Not a trace, Dagaeoga. If Tododaho himself were to come back to earthhe could not find our path."
"And you're sure that we're thoroughly hidden among these littlecedars?"
"Quite sure of it. I doubt whether the bird singing over our heads seesus, and Manitou has given to the bird a very good eye that he may seehis food, which is so small. It may be that the birds and animals whichhave given us warning of the enemy's approach before may do it again."
"At any rate, we can hope so. Are we as deserving now as we were then?"
"Yes, we can hope, Dagaeoga. Hope is never forbidden to anybody."
"I see that you're a philosopher, Tayoga."
"I try to be one," said the Onondaga, his eyes twinkling.
"Do you think that bird singing with so much power and beauty overheadsees us at last?"
"No, because he would certainly have stopped long enough to gratify hiscuriosity. Even a bird would want to know why strange creatures comeinto his thicket."
"Then as long as he sings I shall know that danger is not near. We havebeen watched over by birds before."
"Again you talk like a little child, Dagaeoga. I teach you the wisdom ofthe woods, and you forget. The bird may see a worm or a moth orsomething else that is good to eat, and then he will stop singing todart for his food. A bird must eat, and his love of music often givesway to his love of food."
"You speak as if you were talking from a book."
"I learned your language mostly out of books, and so I speak as they arewritten. Ah, the song of the bird has stopped and he has gone away! Butwe do not know whether he has been alarmed by the coming of our enemy orhas seen food that he pursues."
"It's food, Tayoga; I can hear him, faintly, singing in another tree,some distance to our right. Probably having captured the worm or themoth or whatever it was he was pursuing, and having devoured it, he isnow patting his stomach in his pleasure and singing in his joy."
"And as a sentinel he is no longer of any use to us. Then we will watchfor the little animals that run on the ground. They cannot fly over theheads of Ojibway and Caughnawaga warriors, and so, if our enemies come,they, too, are likely to come our way."
"Then I'll rest awhile, Tayoga, and it may be that I'll doze. If arabbit runs in our direction wake me up."
"You may pretend to sleep, Dagaeoga, but you will not. You may closeyour eyes, but you cannot close your ears, nor can you still yournerves. One waits not with eyes and ears alone, but with all the fiberof the body."
"True, Tayoga. I was but jesting. I couldn't sleep if I tried. But I canrest."
He stretched himself in an easy position, a position, also, that allowedhim to go into instant action if hostile warriors came, and he awaitedthe event with a calmness that surprised himself. Tayoga was crouched byhis side, intent and also waiting.
A full half hour passed, and Robert heard nothing stirring in theundergrowth, save the wandering but gentle winds that rustled the leavesand whispered in the grass. Had he been left to himself he would havegrown impatient, and he would have continued the scouting curve on whichhe had been sent. But he had supreme confidence in Tayoga. If theOnondaga said it was best for them to stay there in the bush, then itwas best, and he would remain until his comrade gave the word to moveon.
So sure was he of Tayoga that he did close his eyes for a while,although his ears and all the nerves of his body watched. But it wasvery peaceful and restful, and, while he lay in a half-dreamy state, heaccumulated new strength for the crisis that might come.
"Any little animals running away yet, Tayoga?" he asked, partly in jest.
"No, Dagaeoga, but I am watching. Two rabbits not twenty feet from usare nibbling the leaves on a tiny weed, that is, they nibble part of thetime, and part of the time they play."
"They don't sing like the bird, because they can't, but I take it fromwhat you say they're just as happy."
"Happy and harmless, Dagaeoga. We Iroquois would not disturb them. Wekill only to eat."
"Well, I've learned your way. You can't say, Tayoga, that I'm not, inspirit and soul at least, half an Iroquois, and spirit and soul meanmore than body and manners or the tint of the skin."
"Dagaeoga has learned much. But then he has had the advantage ofassociating with one who could teach him much."
"Tayoga, if it were not for that odd little chord in your voice, I'dthink you were conceited. But though you jest, it is true I've had asplendid chance to discover that the nations of the Hodenosaunee knowsome things better than we do, and do some things better than we do.I've found that the wisdom of the world isn't crystallized in any onerace. How about the rabbits, Tayoga? Do they still eat and play, as ifnobody anywhere near them was thinking of wounds and death?"
"The rabbits neither see nor hear anything strange, and the strangewould be to them the dangerous. They nibble at the leaves a little, thenplay a little, then nibble again."
"I trust they'll keep up their combination of pleasure and sustenancesome time, because it's very nice to lie here, rest one's overstrainedsystem, and feel that one is watched over by a faithful friend, one whocan do your work as well as his. You're not only a faithful friend,Tayoga, you're a most useful one also."
"Dagaeoga is lazy. He would not have as a friend one who is lazy likehimself. He needs a comrade to take care of him. Perhaps it is betterso. Dagaeoga is an orator; an orator has privileges, and one of hisprivileges is a claim to be watched over by others. One cannot speakforever and work, too."
Robert opened his eyes and smiled. The friendship between him andTayoga, begun in school days, had been tested by countless hardships anddangers, and though each made the other an object of jest, it was asfirm as that of Orestes and Pylades or that of Damon and Pythias.
"What a
re the rabbits doing now?" asked young Lennox, who had closedhis eyes again.
"They eat less and play less," replied the Onondaga. "Ah, their attitudeis that of suspicion! It may be that the enemy comes! Now they run away,and the enemy surely comes!"
Robert sat up, and laid his rifle across his knee. All appearance oflaziness or relaxation disappeared instantly. He was attentive, alert,keyed to immediate action.
"Can you see anything, Tayoga?" he whispered.
"No, but I think I hear the sound of footsteps approaching. I am not yetsure, because the footfall, if footfall it be, is almost as light as thedropping of a feather."
Both remained absolutely still, not moving a leaf in their covert, andpresently a huge and sinister figure walked into the open. It seemed toRobert that Tandakora was larger than ever, and that he was moreevil-looking. His face was that of the warrior who would show no mercy,and his body, save for a waistcloth, was livid with all the hideousdevices of war paint. Behind him came a Frenchman whom Robert promptlyrecognized as Achille Garay, and a half dozen warriors, all of whomturned questing eyes toward the earth.
"They look for a trail," whispered Tayoga. "It is well, Dagaeoga, thatwe took the precaution to walk on rocks when we came into this covert,or Tandakora, who is so eager for our blood, would find the traces."
"Tandakora costs me great pain," Robert whispered back. "It's mymisfortune always to be seeing him just when I can't shoot at him. I'mtempted to try it, anyhow. That's a big, broad chest of his, and Icouldn't find a finer target."
"No, Dagaeoga, on your life, no! Our scalps would be the price, and someday we shall take the life of Tandakora and yet keep our own. I know it,because Tododaho has whispered it to me in the half world that liesbetween waking and sleeping."
"You're right, of course, Tayoga, but it's a tremendous temptation."
The Onondaga put his hand on his lips to indicate that even a whispernow was dangerous, and the two sank once more into an utter silence. Thechest of Tandakora still presented a great and painted target, andRobert's hand lay on the trigger, but his will kept him from pressingit. Yet he did not watch the Ojibway chief with more eagerness than hebestowed upon the Frenchman, Achille Garay.
Garay's face was far from prepossessing. In its way it was as evil asthat of Tandakora. He had sought Robert's life more than once. In thenaval battle he had seen the Frenchman pull trigger upon him. Why? Whyhad he singled him out from the others in the endeavor to make a victimof him? There must be some motive, much more powerful than that ofnatural hostility, and he believed now if they were discovered that notTayoga but he would be the first object of Garay's attack.
But Tandakora and his men passed on, bearing to the right and from themain force. Robert and Tayoga saw their figures vanish among the bushesand heard the fall of their moccasins a little longer, and then thequestion of their own course presented itself to them. Should they goback to Rogers with a warning of the hostile flankers, or should theyfollow Tandakora and see what he meant? They decided finally in favor ofthe latter course, and passing quietly from their covert, began to trailthose who were seeking to trail a foe. The traces led toward the west,and it was not hard to follow them, as Tandakora and his men had takenbut little care, evidently not thinking any scouting rangers or Mohawksmight be near.
Robert and Tayoga followed carefully for several hundred yards; thenthey were surprised to see the trail curve sharply about, and go backtoward the main force.
"We must have passed them," said Robert, "although we were too far awayto see each other."
"It would seem so," said the Onondaga. "Tandakora may have come to theconclusion that no enemy is on his extreme flank, and so has gone backto see if any has appeared nearer the center."
"Then we must follow him in his new course."
"If we do what we are sent to do we will follow."
"Lead on, Tayoga."
The Onondaga stooped that the underbrush might hide him, advanced overthe trail, and Robert was close behind. The thickets were very still.All the small wild creatures, usually so numerous in them, haddisappeared, and there was no wind. Tayoga saw that the imprints of themoccasins were growing firmer and clearer, and he knew that Tandakoraand his men were but a short distance ahead. Then he stopped suddenlyand he and Robert crouched low in the thicket.
They had heard the faint report of rifles directly in front, and theybelieved that Tandakora had come into contact with a party of rangers orMohawks. As they listened, the sound of a second volley came, and thenthe echo of a faint war whoop. Tayoga rose a little higher, perhapsexpecting to see something in the underbrush, and a rifle flashed lessthan forty yards away.
The Onondaga fell without a cry before the horrified eyes of hiscomrade, and then, as Robert heard a shout of triumph, he saw an Indian,horribly painted, rush forward to seize what he believed to be a Mohawkscalp.
Young Lennox, filled with grief and rage, stood straight up, and astream of fire fairly poured from the muzzle of his rifle as his bulletmet the exultant warrior squarely in the heart. The savage fell like alog, having no time to utter his death cry, and paying no furtherattention to him, feeling that he must be merely a stray warrior fromthe main band, Robert turned to his fallen comrade.
Tayoga was unconscious, and was bleeding profusely from a wound in theright shoulder. Robert seized his wrist and felt his pulse. He was notdead, because he detected a faint beat, but it was quite evident thatthe wound from a big musket bullet had come near to cutting the threadof life.
For a moment or two Lennox was in despair, while his heart continued toswell with grief and rage. It was unthinkable that the noblest youngOnondaga of them all, one fit to be in his time the greatest ofsachems, the very head and heart of the League, should be cut down by amere skulker. And yet it had happened. Tayoga lay, still whollyunconscious, and the sounds of firing to the eastward were increasing. Abattle had begun there. Perhaps the full forces of both sides were nowin conflict.
The combat called to Robert, he knew that he might bear a great part init, but he never hesitated. Such a thought as deserting his strickencomrade could not enter his mind. He listened a moment longer to thesounds of the conflict now growing more fierce, and then, fasteningTayoga's rifle on his back with his own, he lifted his wounded comradein his arms and walked westward, away from the battle.
The Rulers of the Lakes: A Story of George and Champlain Page 12