The Masters of the Peaks | Page 2

vision. People whom he had met in his few but eventful years passed
before him again in all the seeming of reality, and then his spirit leaped
into the future, dreaming of the great things he would see, and in which
perhaps he would have a share.
Tayoga, the young Onondaga, looked at his comrade and he understood.
The same imaginative thread had been woven into the warp of which

he was made, and his nostrils and lips quivered as he drank in the
splendor of a world that appealed with such peculiar force to him, a son
of the woods.
"The spirit of Areskoui (the Sun God) is upon Dagaeoga, and he has
left us to dwell for a little while upon the seas of color heaped against
the western horizon," he said.
Willet, the hunter, smiled. The two lads were very dear to him. He
knew that they were uncommon types, raised by the gift of God far
above the normal.
"Let him rest there, Tayoga," he said, "while those brilliant banks last,
which won't be long. All things change, and the glorious hues will soon
give way to the dark."
"True, Great Bear, but if the night comes it, in turn, must yield to the
dawn. All things change, as you say, but nothing perishes. The sun
tomorrow will be the same sun that we see today. Black night will not
take a single ray from its glory."
"It's so, Tayoga, but you talk like a book or a prophet. I'm wondering if
our lives are not like the going and coming of the sun. Maybe we pass
on from one to another, forever and forever, without ending."
"Great Bear himself feels the spell of Areskoui also."
"I do, but we'd better stop rhapsodizing and think about our needs. Here,
Robert, wake up and come back to earth! It's no time to sing a song to
the sun with the forest full of our red enemies and the white too,
perhaps."
Robert awoke with a start.
"You dragged me out of a beautiful world," he said.
"A world in which you were the central star," rejoined the hunter.
"So I was, but isn't that the case with all the imaginary worlds a man

creates? He's their sun or he wouldn't create 'em."
"We're getting too deep into the unknown. Plant your feet on the solid
earth, Robert, and let's think about the problems a dark night is going to
bring us in the Indian country, not far south of the St. Lawrence."
Young Lennox shivered again. The terraces in the west suddenly began
to fade and the wind took on a fresh and sharper edge.
"I know one thing," he said. "I know the night's going to be cold. It
always is in the late autumn, up here among the high hills, and I'd like
to see a fire, before which we could bask and upon which we could
warm our food."
The hunter glanced at the Onondaga.
"That tells the state of my mind, too," he said, "but I doubt whether it
would be safe. If we're to be good scouts, fit to discover the plans of the
French and Indians, we won't get ourselves cut off by some rash act in
the very beginning."
"It may not be a great danger or any at all," said Tayoga. "There is
much rough and rocky ground to our right, cut by deep chasms, and we
might find in there a protected recess in which we could build a
smothered fire."
"You're a friend at the right time, Tayoga," said Robert. "I feel that I
must have warmth. Lead on and find the stony hollow for us."
The Onondaga turned without a word, and started into the maze of lofty
hills and narrow valleys, where the shadows of the night that was
coming so swiftly already lay thick and heavy.
The three had gone north after the great victory at Lake George, a
triumph that was not followed up as they had hoped. They had waited
to see Johnson's host pursue the enemy and strike him hard again, but
there were bickerings among the provinces which were jealous of one
another, and the army remained in camp until the lateness of the season

indicated a delay of all operations, save those of the scouts and roving
bands that never rested. But Robert, Willet and Tayoga hoped,
nevertheless, that they could achieve some deed of importance during
the coming cold weather, and they were willing to undergo great risks
in the effort.
They were soon in the heavy forest that clothed all the hills, and passed
up a narrow ravine leading into the depths of the maze. The wind
followed them into the cleft and steadily grew colder. The glowing
terraces in