does
not want them to find out too much about Montcalm."

"At any rate I think our own enterprise will culminate before night,"
said Willet. "We should overtake them by dusk if we try."

"Sharp Sword's men will make a new camp before long," said Tayoga,
"and from that they will launch their attack upon whatever point or
force of ours they intend to attack. They are not going so fast now,
and the trail is growing very warm. Sharp Sword's stride is shortening
and so, of course, is the stride of all the others. I think he now
feels that the need of hurrying is over, and he is likely to become
much more deliberate."

"And the ground is beginning to slope down toward a deep valley," said
Willet. "Water and wood will be plentiful there, and I think that's
where St. Luc will make his camp to-night."

"I think so too," said Tayoga. "And since the dusk is not far away
maybe they have lighted the fire already. Suppose, Great Bear, we
climb the hill on our right and see if our eyes can reach their
smoke."

The crest of the hill was about three hundred feet above them, but
when they reached it they could see a great distance on all sides,
the lake a vast glittering bowl on their left and the mighty green
wilderness of hills, mountains and woods on their right. Directly
ahead of them was a faint dark line against the dazzling blue of the
sky.

"Smoke!" said Tayoga.

"St. Luc's smoke," said Willet.

"The very smoke of the camp for which we were looking and which we
were expecting!" said Black Rifle.

Robert's pulses beat hard, as they always did when he knew the great
French Chevalier to be near. But that emotion soon passed and in
its place came the thought of the enemy's presence. However much
he admired St. Luc he was an official foe, to be met upon the
battlefield.

"We must look into their camp," he said.

"So we must," said Willet, "and to do that we shall have to go much
nearer. The risk is too great now, but it will soon be night, and then
we can approach. We can see them well, then, because they'll build all
the fires they like, since they think they have nothing to fear."

Then the five waited in silence among the thick woods on the crest of
the hill, and Grosvenor prepared his mind for his first stalk. Full of
courage, ambitious, eager to excel, he resolved to acquit himself with
credit. But this was war, far different from that on the open fields
of Europe for which his early training had fitted him. One