returned as when he departed, and having
the appearance of one who had walked far and rapidly.

"You found no boat?" Master Wentworth said interrogatively, and the man
replied, as he seated himself wearily near by the prisoners:

"I do not believe there is one this side of Crown Point. Most likely the
rebels took good care to gather in every craft that was to be found
within half a dozen miles of here."

For the first time since the little party came to a halt did Nathan
evince any interest in what was going on around him, and now he
partially turned as if to speak.

Isaac, believing he was on the point of telling what he knew regarding
the seizure of boats, covered the boy's mouth with his hand, for he was
not minded to give the enemy any information.

Master Wentworth observed the movement, and evidently would have
demanded an explanation, but for the fact that at this moment Ezra Jones
came up through the thicket, instead of along the shore.

His report was much like Master White's.

The boat he had expected to find near the trail leading to Sudbury was
missing, and he had continued on nearly two miles further, but without
avail.

Again did hope come into Isaac's desponding breast.

The boy had believed Master Jones would surely find the craft in which
he and Nathan had crossed the lake; but fortune favored the "rebel"
cause in that respect at least, for the man must have turned about,
when, by continuing on a very short distance further, he would have come
upon that for which he was searching.

"We must go on foot," Master Wentworth said after a short pause, "and
the sooner we set out the better."

"It's all very well for you, who have been resting here, to say that,"
Jones replied petulantly. "I've been making a road through the thicket
for a matter of five miles or more, and don't propose to move again
until after I've had a breathing spell."

"Why didn't you come back by the shore, as you went?"

"Because there are a hundred pair of eyes watching this side of the
lake. I could see the rebels on the opposite shore before I gained the
trail, and then it was necessary to keep well hidden in the bushes. Even
though I had found a boat, it is doubtful if I should have been allowed
to pull up this way, for Seth Warner and Ethan Allen are much too keen
to let any one pass who is headed in the direction of Crown Point."

"They are waiting for the wind to die away before setting out to take
the fort, and i