The Lords of the Wild | Page 8

his heart felt that triumphant feeling. Surely no man ever had
more loyal or braver comrades! If he had malignant enemies he also
had staunch friends who more than offset them.
He saw presently a faint shadow, a deeper dark in the darkness, and he
uttered very low the soft note of the bird. In an instant came the answer,
and then the shadow, turning, glided toward him. A canoe took form
and shape and he saw in it two figures, which were unmistakably those
of Willet and Tayoga, swinging their paddles with powerful hands.
Again he felt a thrill of joy because these two trusty comrades had
come. But it was absurd ever to doubt for an instant that they would
come!
He leaned out from the tree to the last inch, and called in a penetrating
whisper:
"Dave! Tayoga! This way!"
The canoe shifted its course a little, and entered the bushes by the side
of Robert, the hunter and the Onondaga putting down their dripping
paddles, and stepping out in the shallow water. In the dusk the great
figure of Willet loomed up, more than ever a tower of strength, and the
slender but muscular form of Tayoga, the very model of a young Indian
warrior, seemed to be made of gleaming bronze. Had Robert needed
any infusion of courage and will their appearance alone would have
brought it with them.
"And we have found Dagaeoga again!" said the Onondaga, in a
whimsical tone.
"No I have found you," said Robert. "You were lost from me, I was not
lost from you."
"It is the same, and I think by your waiting here at midnight that you

have been in great peril."
"So I have been, and I may be yet--and you too. I have been pursued by
warriors, Tandakora at their head. I have not seen them, but I know
from the venom and persistence of the pursuit that he leads them. I
eluded them by coming down the cliff and hiding among the bushes
here. I stood in the water all the afternoon."
"We thought you might be somewhere along the western shore. After
we divided for our scout about the lake, the Great Bear and I met as we
had arranged, but you did not come. We concluded that the enemy had
got in the way, and so we took from its hiding place a canoe which had
been left on a former journey, and began to cruise upon Andiatarocte,
calling at far intervals for you."
He spoke in his usual precise school English and in a light playful tone,
but Robert knew the depth of his feelings. The friendship of the white
lad and the red was held by hooks of steel like that of Damon and
Pythias of old.
"I think I heard your first call," said Robert. "It wasn't very loud, but
never was a sound more welcome, nor can I be too grateful for that
habit you have of hiding canoes here and there in the wilderness. It's
saved us all more than once."
"It is merely the custom of my people, forced upon us by need, and I
but follow."
"It doesn't alter my gratitude. I see that the canoe is big enough for me
too."
"So it is, Dagaeoga. You can enter it. Take my paddle and work."
The three adjusted their weight in the slender craft, and Robert, taking
Willet's paddle instead of Tayoga's, they pushed out into the lake, while
the great hunter sat with his long rifle across his knees, watching for the
least sign that the warriors might be coming.

CHAPTER II
THE LIVE CANOE
Robert was fully aware that their peril was not yet over--the Indians,
too, might have canoes upon the lake--but he considered that the bulk
of it had passed. So his heart was light, and, as they shot out toward the
middle of Andiatarocte, he talked of the pursuit and the manner in
which he had escaped it.
"I was led the right way by a bird, one that sang," he said. "Your
Manitou, Tayoga, sent that bird to save me."
"You don't really believe it came for that special purpose?" asked the
hunter.
"Why not?" interrupted the Onondaga. "We do know that miracles are
done often. My nation and all the nations of the Hodenosaunee have
long known it. If Manitou wishes to stretch out his hand and snatch
Dagaeoga from his foes it is not for us to ask his reason why."
Willet was silent. He would not say anything to disturb the belief of
Tayoga, he was never one to attack anybody's religion, besides he was
not sure that he did not believe, himself.
"We know too," continued Tayoga devoutly, "that Tododaho, the
mighty Onondaga chief who went away