of
the bushes crowned with white bend their weight toward the ground, the
panthers, the wolves, and the wildcats all lie snug in their
dens. It's a dead world save for one figure. Squarely in the center of
it I see Tayoga, bent over a little, but flying straight forward at a
speed that neither you nor I could match, Will. His feet do not sink
in the snow. He skims upon it like a swallow through the air. His feet
are encased in something long and narrow. He has on snow shoes and he
goes like the wind!"

"You do have supreme confidence in the Onondaga, Lennox!"

"So would you if you knew him as I do, Will, a truth I've told you
several times already."

"But he can't provide for every emergency!"

"Must I tell you for the twentieth time that you don't know Tayoga as
I know him?"

"No, Lennox, but I'll wait and see what happens."

The fall of snow lasted the entire day and the following night. The
wilderness was singularly beautiful, but it was also inaccessible,
comfortable for those in the fort, but outside the snow lay nearly two
feet deep.

"I hope that vision of yours comes true," said Wilton to Robert, as
they looked at the forest. "They say the Highland Scotch can go into
trances or something of that kind, and look into the future, and I
believe the Indians claim the gift, but I've never heard that English
and Americans assumed the possession of such powers."

"I'm no seer," laughed Robert. "I merely use my imagination and
produce for myself a picture of things two or three days ahead."

"Which comes to the same thing. Well, we'll see. I take so great an
interest in the journey of your Onondaga friend that somehow I feel
myself traveling along with him."

"I know I'm going with him or I wouldn't have seen him flying ahead on
his snow shoes. But come, Will, I've promised to teach you how to sew
buckskin with tendons and sinews, and I'm going to see that you do
it."

The snow despite its great depth was premature, because on the fourth
day soft winds began to blow, and all the following night a warm rain
fell. It came down so fast that the whole earth was flooded, and the
air was all fog and mist. The creek rose far beyond its banks, and the
water stood in pools and lakes in the forest.

"Now, in very truth, our friend Tayoga has been compelled to seek a
lair," said Wilton emphatically. "His snow shoes would be the
sorriest of drags upon his feet in mud and water, and without them he
will sink to his k