CHAPTER XI
THE COMRADES
Robert settled the inert form of the Onondaga against his left shoulder,and, being naturally very strong, with a strength greatly increased by along life in the woods, he was able to carry the weight easily. He hadno plan yet in his mind, merely a vague resolve to carry Tayoga outsidethe fighting zone and then do what he could to resuscitate him. It wasan unfortunate chance that the hostile flankers had cut in between himand the main force of Rogers, but it could not be helped, and thefarther he was from his own people the safer would he and Tayoga be.
Two hundred yards more and putting his comrade on the ground he cut awaythe deerskin, disclosing the wound. The bullet had gone almost throughthe shoulder, and as he felt of its path he knew with joy that it hadtouched no bone. Then, unless the loss of blood became great, it couldnot prove mortal. But the bullet was of heavy type, fired from the oldsmoothbore musket and the shock had been severe. Although it had notgone quite through the shoulder he could feel it near the surface, andhe decided at once upon rude but effective surgery.
Laying Tayoga upon his face, he drew his keen hunting knife and cutboldly into the flesh of the shoulder until he reached the bullet. Thenhe pried it out with the point of the knife, and threw it away in thebushes. A rush of blood followed and Tayoga groaned, but Robert, rapidlycutting the Onondaga's deerskin tunic into suitable strips, boundtightly and with skill both the entrance and the exit of the wound. Theflow of blood was stopped, and he breathed a fervent prayer ofthankfulness to the white man's God and the red man's Manitou. Tayogawould live, and he knew that he had saved the life of his comrade, asthat comrade had more than once saved his.
Yet both were still surrounded by appalling dangers. At any moment St.Luc's savages might burst through the woods and be upon them. As hefinished tying the bandage and stood erect the flare of the fightingcame from a point much nearer, though between them and the ranger band,forbidding any possible attempt to rejoin Rogers and Willet. Tayogaopened his eyes, though he saw darkly, through a veil, and said infeeble tones:
"They have closed again with the forces of St. Luc. You would be there,Dagaeoga, to help in the fighting. Go, I am useless. It is not a time tocumber yourself with me."
"If I lay there as you are, and you stood here as I am would you leaveme?" asked Robert.
The Onondaga was silent.
"You know you wouldn't," continued Robert, "and you know I won't.Listen, the battle comes nearer. St. Luc must have received areenforcement."
He leaned forward a little, cupping his ear with his right hand, and heheard distinctly all the sounds of a fierce and terrible conflict, rifleshots, yells of the savages, shouts of the rangers, and once or twice hethought he saw faintly the flashes of rifles as they were fired in thethickets.
"Go," said Tayoga again. "I can see that your spirit turns to thebattle. They may not find me, and, perhaps in a day, I shall be able towalk and take care of myself."
Robert made no reply in words, but once more he lifted the Onondaga inhis sinewy arms, settled his weight against his left shoulder andresumed his walk away from the battle. Tayoga did not speak, and Robertsoon saw that he had relapsed again into unconsciousness. He went atleast three hundred yards before resting, and all the while the battlecalled to him, the shots, the yells and the shouts still coming clearlythrough the thin mountain air.
He rested perhaps fifteen minutes, and he saw that, while Tayoga wasunconscious, the flow of blood was still held in check by the bandages.Resuming his burden, he went on through the forest, a full quarter of amile now, and the last sound of the battle sank into nothingness behindhim. He was consumed with anxiety to know who had won, but there was nota sign to tell.
He came to a brook, and putting Tayoga down once more, he bathed hisface freely, until the Onondaga opened his eyes and looked about, notwith a veil before his eyes now, but clearly.
"Where are we, Dagaeoga?" he asked.
"I'd tell you if I could, but I can't," replied Robert, cheerfully,rejoiced at the sight of his comrade's returning strength.
"You have left the battle behind you?"
"Yes. I can state in general terms that we're somewhere betweenAndiatarocte and Oneadatote, which is quite enough for you to know atthe present time. I'm the forest doctor, and as this is the first chanceI've ever had to exert authority over you, I mean to make the most ofit."
Tayoga smiled wanly.
"I see that you have bound up my wound," he said. "That was well. Butsince I cannot see the wound itself I do not know what kind of a bulletmade it."
"It wasn't a bullet at all, Tayoga. It was a cannon ball, though it cameout of a wide-mouthed musket, and I'm happy to tell you that it somehowgot through your shoulder without touching bone."
"The bullet is out?"
"Yes, I cut it out with this good old hunting knife of mine."
Again Tayoga smiled wanly.
"You have done well, Dagaeoga," he said. "Did I not say to others inyour defense that you had intelligence and, in time, might learn? Youhave saved my life, a poor thing perhaps, but the only life I have, andI thank you."
Robert laughed, and his laugh was full of heartiness. He saw the oldTayoga coming back.
"You'll be a new man tomorrow," he said. "With flesh and blood ashealthy as yours a hole through your shoulder that I could put my fistin would soon heal."
"What does Dagaeoga purpose to do next?"
"You'll find out in good time. I'm master now, and I don't intend totell my plans. If I did you'd be trying to change 'em. While I'm ruler Imean to be ruler."
"It is a haughty spirit you show. You take advantage of my beingwounded."
"Of course I do. As I said, it's the only chance I've had. Stop that!Don't try to sit up! You're not strong enough yet. I'll carry youawhile."
Tayoga sank back, and, in a few more minutes, Robert picked him up andwent on once more. But he noticed that the Onondaga did not now lie adead weight upon his shoulder. Instead, there was in him again the vitalquality that made him lighter and easier to carry. He knew that Tayogawould revive rapidly, but it would be days before he was fit to takecare of himself. He must find not only a place of security, but one ofshelter from the fierce midsummer storms that sometimes broke over thosemountain slopes. Among the rocks and ravines and dense woods he mightdiscover some such covert. Food was contained in his knapsack and theone still fastened to the back of Tayoga, food enough to last severaldays, and if the time should be longer his rifle must find more.
The way became rougher, the rocks growing more numerous, the slopesincreasing in steepness, and the thickets becoming almost impenetrable.
"Put me down," said Tayoga. "We are safe from the enemy, for a while atleast. All the warriors have been drawn by the battle, and, whether itgoes on now or not, they have not yet had time to scatter and seekthrough the wilderness."
"I said I was going to be absolute master, but it looks, Tayoga, as ifyou meant to give advice anyhow. And as your advice seems good, and Iconfess I'm a trifle weary, I'll let you see if you can sit up a littleon this heap of dead leaves, with your back against this old fallentrunk. Here we go! Gently now! Oh, you'll soon be a warrior again, ifyou follow my instructions!"
Tayoga heaved a little sigh of relief as he leaned back against thetrunk. His eyes were growing clearer and Robert knew that the beat ofhis pulse was fuller. All the amazing vitality that came from a powerfulconstitution, hard training and clean living was showing itself.Already, and his wound scarcely two hours old, his strength was comingback.
"You look for a wigwam, Dagaeoga?" he said.
"Well, scarcely that," replied Robert. "I'm not expecting an inn in thiswilderness, but I'm seeking some sort of shelter, preferably high upamong the rocks, where we might find protection from storms."
"Two or three hundred yards farther on and we'll find it."
"Come, Tayoga, you're just guessing. You can't know such a thing."
"I am not guessing at all, Dagaeoga, and I do
know. Your position asabsolute ruler was brief. It expired between the first and second hour,and now you have an adviser who may become a director."
"Then proceed with your advice and direction. How do you know there isshelter only two or three hundred yards farther on?"
"I look ahead, and I see a narrow path leading up among the rocks. Suchpaths are countless in the wilderness, and many of them are untrodden,but the one before my eyes has sustained footsteps many times."
"Come down to earth, Tayoga, and tell me what you see."
"I see on the rocks on either side of this path long, coarse hairs. Theywere left by a wild animal going back and forth to its den. It was alarge wild animal, else it would not have scraped against the rocks oneither side. It was probably a bear, and if you will hand me the two orthree twisted hairs in the crevice at your elbow I will tell you."
Robert brought them to him and Tayoga nodded assent.
"Aye, it was a bear," he said, "and a big one."
"But how do you know his den is only two or three hundred yards away?"
"That is a matter of looking as far as the eyes can reach. If you willonly lift yours and gaze over the tops of those bushes you will see thatthe path ends against a high stone face or wall, too steep for climbing.So the den must be there, and let us hope, Dagaeoga, that it is largeenough for us both. The bear is likely to be away, as this is summer.Now, lift me up. I have talked all the talk that is in me and as much asI have strength to utter."
Robert carried him again, and it was hard traveling up the steep androcky path, but Tayoga's words were quickly proved to be true. In thecrumbling face of the stone cliff they found not only an opening butseveral, the bear having preferred one of the smaller to the largest,which ran back eight or ten feet and which was roomy enough to house adozen men. It bore no animal odor, and there was before it an abundanceof dead leaves that could be taken in for shelter.
"Now Manitou is kind," said Tayoga, "or it may be that Areskoui andTododaho are still keeping their personal watch over us. Lay me in thecave, Dagaeoga. Thou hast acquitted thyself as a true friend. No sachemof the Onondagas, however great, could have been greater in fidelity andcourage."
Robert made two beds of leaves. On one he spread the blanket that wasstrapped to Tayoga's back. Then he built his own place and felt thatthey were sheltered and secure for the time, and in truth they werehoused as well as millions of cave men for untold centuries had been. Itwas a good cave, sweet-smelling, with pure, clean air, and Robert sawthat if it rained the water would not come in at the door, but would runpast it down the slope, which in itself was one of the luckiest strokesof fortune.
Tayoga lay on his blanket on his bed of leaves, and, looking up at therough and rocky roof, smiled. He had begged Robert to leave him and goto the battle, and he knew that if his comrade had gone, he, wounded ashe was, would surely have perished. If a hostile skirmisher did not findhim, which was more than likely, he would have been overcome by thefever of his wound, and, lying unconscious while some rainstorm sweptover him, his last chance would be gone. He could feel the fevercreeping into his veins now, and he knew that they had found the refugejust in time. Yet he was grateful and cheerful, and in his heart he saidsilent thanks to Tododaho, Areskoui and Manitou. Then he called toRobert.
"See if you can find water," he said. "There should be more than onestream among these rocky hollows. Bring the water here in your cap andwash my wound."
Iroquois therapeutics were very simple, but wonderfully effective, and,as Robert had seen both Onondagas and Mohawks practice their healingart, he understood. He discovered a good stream not many yards away, andcarefully removing Tayoga's bandages, and bringing his cap filled to thebrim with water, he cleansed the wound thoroughly. Then the bandageswere put on again firmly and securely. This in most cases constitutedthe whole of the Iroquois treatment, so far as the physical body wasconcerned. The wound must be kept absolutely clean and away from theair, nature doing the rest. Now and then the juices of powerful herbswere used, but they were not needed for one so young and so wholesome inblood as Tayoga.
When the operation was finished the Onondaga lay back on his bed andsmiled once more at the rough and rocky roof.
"Again you show signs of intelligence, Dagaeoga," he said. "As you havelearned to be a warrior, perhaps you can learn to be a medicine manalso, not the medicine man who deals with spirits, but one who heals.Now, as you have done your part, I shall do mine."
"What do you mean, Tayoga?"
"I will resolve to be well. You know that among my people the healersheld in highest honor are those who do not acknowledge the existence ofany disease at all. The patient is sick because he has not willed thathe should be well. So the medicine man exerts a will for him and byreciting to himself prayers or charms drives away the complaint whichthe sick man fancies that he has. Now, I do not accept all their belief.A bullet has gone through my shoulder, and I know it. Nothing can alterthe fact. Yet I do know that the will has great control over the nerves,which direct the body, and I shall strengthen my will as much as I can,and make it order my body to get well."
Robert knew that what he said was true. Already the Iroquois were, andlong had been, practicing what came to be known much later among thewhite people as Christian Science.
"Try to sleep, Tayoga," he said. "I know the power of your will. If youorder yourself to sleep, sleep you will. I have your rifle and mine, andif the enemy should come I think I can hold 'em off."
"They will not come," said Tayoga, "at least, not today nor in the nightthat will follow. They are so busy with the Great Bear and the MountainWolf and Daganoweda that they will not have time to hunt among the hillsfor the two who have sought refuge here. What of the skies, Dagaeoga?What do they promise?"
Robert, standing in the entrance, took a long look at the heavens.
"Rain," he replied at last; "I can see clouds gathering in the west, anda storm is likely to come with the night. I think I hear distantthunder, but it is so low I'm not sure."
"Areskoui is good to us once more. The kindness of his heart is neverexhausted. Truly, O Dagaeoga, he has been a shield between us and ourenemies. Now the rain will come, it will pour hard, it will sweep alongthe slopes, and wash away any faint trace of a trail that we may haveleft, thus hiding our flight from the eyes of wandering warriors."
"All that's true, and now that you've explained it to your satisfaction,you obey me, exercise your will and go to sleep. I've recovered myrulership, and I mean to exercise it to the full for the little timethat it may last."
Tayoga obeyed, composing himself in the easiest attitude on his blanketand bed of leaves, and he exerted his will to the utmost. He wishedsleep, and sleep must come, yet he knew that the fever was still risingin his veins. The shock and loss of blood from the great musket ballcould not be dismissed by a mere effort of the mind, but the mindnevertheless could fight against their effects and neutralize them.
As the fever rose steadily he exerted his will with increasing power. Hesaid to himself again and again how fortunate he was to be watched overby such a brave and loyal friend, and to have a safe and dry refuge,when other warriors of his nation, wounded, had lain in the forest todie of exhaustion or to be devoured by wild beasts. He knew from thefeel of the air that a storm was coming, and again he was thankful tohis patron saint, Tododaho, and also to Areskoui, and to Manitou,greatest of all, because a bed and a roof had been found for him inthis, the hour of his greatest need.
The mounting fever in his veins seemed to make his senses more vividand acute for the time. Although Robert could not yet hear in realitythe rumbling thunder far down in the southwest, the menace came veryplainly to the ears of Tayoga, but it was no menace to him. Instead, therumble was the voice of a friend, telling him that the deluge was athand to wash away all traces of their flight and to force their enemiesinto shelter, while his fever burned itself out.
Tayoga on his blanket, with the thick couch of dry leaves beneath, couldstill see the figure of R
obert, rifle across his knees, crouched at thedoorway, a black silhouette against the fading sky. The Onondaga knewthat he would watch until the storm came in full flood, and nothingwould escape his keen eyes and ears. Dagaeoga was a worthy pupil ofWillet, known to the Hodenosaunee as the Great Bear, a man of surpassingskill.
Tayoga also heard the rushing of the rain, far off, coming, perhaps,from Andiatarocte, and presently he saw the flashes of lightning, everyone a vast red blaze to his feverish eyes. It was only by the light ofthese saber strokes across the sky that he could now see Robert, as thedark had come, soon to be followed by floods of rain. Then he closed hiseyes, and calling incessantly for sleep, refused to open them again.Sleep came by and by, though it was Tarenyawagon, the sender of dreams,who presided over it, because as he slept, and his fever grew higher,visions, many and fantastic, flitted through his disordered brain.
Robert watched until long after the rain had been pouring in sheets,and it was pitchy dark in the cave. Then he felt of Tayoga's foreheadand his pulse, and observed the fever, though without alarm. Tayoga'swound was clean and his blood absolutely pure. The fever was due and itwould run its course. He could do nothing more for his comrade atpresent, and lying down on his own spread of leaves, he soon fellasleep.
Robert's slumber was not sound. Although the Onondaga might be watchedover by Tododaho, Areskoui and even Manitou himself, he had felt theweight of responsibility. The gods protected those who protectedthemselves, and, even while he slept, the thought was nestling somewherein his brain and awoke him now and then. Upon every such occasion he satup and looked out at the entrance of the cave, to see, as he had hoped,only the darkness and black sheets of driving rain, and also upon everyoccasion devout thanks rose up in his throat. Tayoga had not prayed tohis patron saint and to the great Areskoui and Manitou in vain, else inall that wilderness, given over to night and storm, they would not havefound so good a refuge and shelter.
Tayoga's fever increased, and when morning came, with the rain stillfalling, though not in such a deluge as by night, it seemed to Robert,who had seen many gunshot wounds, that it was about at the zenith. TheOnondaga came out of his sleep, but he was delirious for a little while,Robert sitting by him, covering him with his blanket and seeing that hishurt was kept away from the air.
The rain ceased by and by, but heavy fogs and vapors floated over themountains, so dense that Robert could not see more than fifteen ortwenty feet beyond the mouth of the cave, in front of which a stream ofwater from the rain a foot deep was flowing. He was thankful. He knewthat fog and flood together would hide them in absolute security foranother day and night at least.
He ate a little venison and regretted that he did not have a smallskillet in which he could make soup for Tayoga later on, but since hedid not have it he resolved to pound venison into shreds between stones,when the time came. Examining Tayoga again, he found, to his great joy,that the fever was decreasing, and he washed the wound anew. Then he satby him a long time while the morning passed. Tayoga, who had beenmuttering in his fever, sank into silence, and about noon, opening hiseyes, he said in a weak voice:
"How long have we been here, Dagaeoga?"
"About half of the second day is now gone," replied Robert, "and yourfever has gone with it. You're as limp as a towel, but you're startedfairly on the road to recovery."
"I know it," said Tayoga gratefully, "and I am thankful to Tododaho, toAreskoui, to Manitou, greatest of all, and to you, Dagaeoga, withoutwhom the great spirits of earth and air would have let me perish."
"You don't owe me anything, Tayoga. It's what one comrade has a right toexpect of another. Did you exert your will, as you said, when you weredelirious, and help along nature with your cure?"
"I did, Dagaeoga. Before I lapsed into the unconsciousness of which youspeak, I resolved that today, when my fever should have passed, my soulshould lift me up. I concentrated my mind upon it, I attuned every nerveto that end, and while I could not prevent the fever and the weakness,yet the resolution to get well fast helps me to do so. By so much doesmy mind rule over my body."
"I've no doubt you're right about it. Courage and optimism can lift usup a lot, as I've seen often for myself, and you're certainly out ofdanger now, Tayoga. All you have to do is to lie quiet, if the Frenchand Indians will let us. In a week you'll be able to travel and fight,and in a few weeks you'll never know that a musket ball passed throughyour shoulder. When do you think you can eat? I'll pound some of thevenison very fine."
"Not before night, and then but little. That little, though, I shouldhave. Tomorrow I will eat much more, and a few days later it will be allDagaeoga can do to find enough food for me. Be sure that you wait on mewell. It is the first rest that I have had in a long time, and it is mypurpose to enjoy it. If I should be fretful, humor me; if I should behungry, feed me; if I should be sleepy, let me sleep, and see that I amnot disturbed while I do sleep; if my bed is hard, make me a better, andthrough it all, O Dagaeoga, be thou the finest medicine man that everbreathed in these woods."
"Come, now, Tayoga, you lay too great a burden upon me. I'm not all theexcellencies melted into one, and I've never pretended to be. But I cansee that you're getting well, because the spirit of rulership is uponyou as strong as ever, and, since you're so much improved, I may takeit into my mind to obey your commands, though only when I feel like it."
The two lads looked at each other and laughed, and there was immenserelief in Robert's laugh. Only now did he admit to himself that he hadbeen terribly alarmed about Tayoga, and he recognized the enormousrelief he felt when the Onondaga had passed his crisis.
"In truth, you pick up fast, Tayoga," he said whimsically. "Suppose wego forth now and hunt the enemy. We might finish up what Rogers, Willetand Daganoweda have left of St. Luc's force."
"I would go," replied Tayoga in the same tone, "but Tododaho andAreskoui have told me to bide here awhile. Only a fear that mydisobedience might cause me to lose their favor keeps me in the cave.But I wish you to bear in mind, Dagaeoga, that I still exert my will asthe medicine men of my nation bid the sick and the hurt to do, and thatI feel the fevered blood cooling in my veins, strength flowing back intomy weak muscles, and my nerves, that were all so loose and unattuned,becoming steady."
"I'll admit that your will may help, Tayoga, but it's chiefly the longsleep you've had, the good home you enjoy, and the superb care of Dr.Robert Lennox of Albany, New York, and the Vale of Onondaga. On thewhole, weighing the question carefully, I should say that theministrations of Dr. Lennox constitute at least eighty per cent of thewhole."
"You are still the great talker, Dagaeoga, that you were when youdefeated St. Luc in the test of words in the Vale of Onondaga, and it iswell. The world needs good talkers, those who can make speech flow in agolden stream, else we should all grow dull and gloomy, though I willsay for you, O Lennox, that you act as well as talk. If I did not, I,whose life you have saved and who have seen you great in battle, shouldhave little gratitude and less perception."
"I've always told you, Tayoga, that when you speak English you speak outof a book, because you learned it out of a book and you take delight inlong words. Now I think that 'gratitude' and 'perception' are enough foryou and you can rest."
"I will rest, but it is not because you think my words are long and I amexhausted, Dagaeoga. It is because you wish to have all the timeyourself for talking. You are cunning, but you need not be so now. Igive my time to you."
Robert laughed. The old Tayoga with all his keenness and sense of humorwas back again, and it was a sure sign that a rapid recovery had set in.
"Maybe you can go to sleep again," he said. "I think it was a stuporrather than sleep that you passed through last night, but now you oughtto find sleep sweet, sound and healthy."
"You speak words of truth, O great white medicine man, and it being somy mind will make my body obey your instructions."
He turned a little on his side, away from his wounded shoulder, andeither his will was very powerful or his body was
willing, as he soonslept again, and now Tarenyawagon sent him no troubled and disordereddreams. Instead his breathing was deep and regular, and when Robert felthis pulse he found it was almost normal. The fever was gone and thebronze of Tayoga's face assumed a healthful tint.
Then Robert took a piece of venison, and pounded it well between twostones. He would have been glad to light a fire of dry leaves andsticks, that he might warm the meat, but he knew that it was yet toodangerous, and so strong was Tayoga's constitution that he might takethe food cold, and yet find it nutritious.
It was late in the afternoon when the Onondaga awoke, yawned in humanfashion, and raised himself a little on his unwounded shoulder.
"Here is your dinner, Tayoga," said Robert, presenting the shreddedvenison. "I'm sorry it's not better, but it's the best the lodgeaffords, and I, as chief medicine man and also as first assistantmedicine man and second assistant medicine man, bid you eat and find nofault."
"I obey, O physician, wise and stern, despite your youth," said Tayoga."I am hungry, which is a most excellent sign, and I will say, too, thatI begin to feel like a warrior again."
He ate as much as Robert would let him have, and then, with a great sighof content, sank back on his bed of leaves.
"I can feel my wound healing," he said. "Already the clean flesh isspreading over the hurt and the million tiny strands are knittingclosely together. Some day it shall be said in the Vale of Onondaga thatthe wound of Tayoga healed more quickly than the wound of any otherwarrior of our nation."
"Good enough as a prophecy, but for the present we'll bathe and bind itanew. A little good doctoring is a wonderful help to will andprediction."
Robert once more cleansed the hurt very thoroughly, and he was surprisedto find its extremely healthy condition. It had already begun to heal, aproof of amazing vitality on the part of Tayoga, and unless theunforeseen occurred he would set a record in recovery. Robert heaped theleaves under his head to form a pillow, and the young warrior's eyessparkled as he looked around at their snug abode.
"I can hear the water running by the mouth of the cave," he said. "Itcomes from last night's rain and flood, but what of tonight, Dagaeoga?The skies and what they have to say mean much to us."
"It will rain again. I've been looking out. All the west is heavy withclouds and the light winds come, soaked with damp. I don't claim to beany prophet like you, Tayoga, because I'm a modest man, I am, but thenight will be wet and dark."
"Then we are still under the protection of Tododaho, of Areskoui and ofManitou, greatest of all. Let the dark come quickly and the rain fallheavily, because they will be a veil about us to hide us from Tandakoraand his savages."
All that the Onondaga wished came to pass. The clouds, circling aboutthe horizon, soon spread to the zenith, and covered the heavens, hidingthe moon and the last star. The rain came, not in a flood, but in a coldand steady pour lasting all night. The night was not only dark and wetoutside, but it was very chill also, though in the cave the two youngwarriors, the white and the red, were warm and dry on their blanketsand beds of leaves.
Robert pounded more of the venison the next morning and gave Tayogatwice as much as he had eaten the day before. The Onondaga clamored foran additional supply, but Robert would not let him have it.
"Epicure! Gourmand! Gorger!" said young Lennox. "Would you do nothingbut eat? Do you think it your chief duty in this world to be a glutton?"
"No, Dagaeoga," replied Tayoga, "I am not a glutton, but I am yethungry, and I warn thee, O grudging medicine man, that I am growingstrong fast. I feel upon my arm muscles that were not there yesterdayand tomorrow or the next day my strength will be so great that I shalltake from you all the food of us both and eat it."
"By that time we won't have any left, and I shall have to take measuresto secure a new supply. I must go forth in search of game."
"Not today, nor yet tomorrow. It is too dangerous. You must wait untilthe last moment. It is barely possible that the Great Bear or BlackRifle may find us."
"I don't think so. We'll have to rely on ourselves. But at any rate,I'll stay in the cave today, though I think the rain is about over.Don't you see the sun shining in at the entrance? It's going to be afine day in the woods, Tayoga, but it won't be a fine day for us."
"That is true, Dagaeoga. It is hard to stay here in a hole in the rocks,when the sun is shining and the earth is drying. The sun has broughtback the green to the leaves and the light now must be wonderful onAndiatarocte and Oneadatote. Their waters shift and change with all thecolors of the rainbow. It fills me with longing when I think of thesethings. Go now, Dagaeoga, and find the Great Bear, the Mountain Wolf andDaganoweda. I am well past all danger from my wound, and I can take careof myself."
"Tayoga, you talk like a foolish child. If I hear any more such words Ishall have to gag you, for two reasons, because they make a weariness inmy ear, and because if anyone else were to hear you he would think youwere weak of mind. It's your reputation for sanity that I'm thinkingabout most. You and I stay here together, and when we leave we leavetogether."
Tayoga said no more on the subject. He had known all the while thatRobert would not leave him, but he had wished to give him the chance. Helay very quiet now for many hours, and Robert sitting at the door of thecave, with his rifle across his knees, was also quiet. While a greattalker upon occasion, he had learned from the Iroquois the habit ofsilence, when silence was needed, and it required no effort from him.
Though he did not speak he saw much. The stream, caused by the flood,still flowed before the mouth of the cave, but it was diminishingsteadily. By the time night came it would sink to a thin thread andvanish. The world itself, bathed and cleansed anew, was wonderfullysweet and fresh. The light wind brought the pleasant odors of flower andleaf and grass. Birds began to sing on the overhanging boughs, and arabbit or two appeared in the valley. These unconscious sentinels madehim feel quite sure that no savages were near.
Curiosity about the battle between the forces of St. Luc and those ofthe rangers and Mohawks, smothered hitherto by his anxiety and care forTayoga, was now strong in his breast. It was barely possible that St.Luc had spread a successful ambush and that all of his friends hadfallen. He shuddered at the thought, and then dismissed it as toounlikely. Tayoga fell asleep again, and when he awoke he was not onlyable to sit up, but to walk across the cave.
"Tomorrow," he said, "I shall be able to sit near the entrance and loadand fire a rifle as well as ever. If an enemy should come I think Icould hold the refuge alone."
"That being the case," said Robert, "and you being full of pride andhaughtiness, I may let you have the chance. Not many shreds of ourvenison are left, and as I shall have in you a raging wolf to feed, I'llgo forth and seek game. It seems to me I ought to find it soon. Youdon't think it's all been driven away by marching rangers and warriors,do you, Tayoga?"
"No, the rangers and warriors have been seeking one another, not thegame, and perhaps the deer and the moose know it. Why does man thinkthat Manitou watches over him alone? Perhaps He has told the big animalsthat they are safer when the men fight. On our way here I twice saw thetracks of a moose, and it may be your fortune to find one tomorrow,Dagaeoga."
"Not fortune, at all, Tayoga. If I bring down one it will be due to mysurpassing skill in trailing and to my deadly sharpshooting, for whichI am renowned the world over. Anyhow, I think we can sleep another nightwithout a guard and then we'll see what tomorrow will bring forth."
The Rulers of the Lakes: A Story of George and Champlain Page 13