and laid it upon the grass. Robert put his beside
it.

"I don't think we'll need to use 'em again for a long time," said the
hunter, "but they're mighty fine as decorations, and sometimes a
decoration is worth while. It impresses. Now, Tayoga, you kindle the
fire, and Robert, you find a spring. It's pleasant to feel that you're
again on land that belongs to nobody, and can do as you please."

Robert found a spring less than a hundred yards away, and Tayoga soon
kindled a fire near it with his flint and steel, on which the hunter
warmed their food. Each had a small tin cup from which he drank clear
water as they ate, and Robert, elastic of temperament, rejoiced with the
hunter.

"You are right, Dave," he said. "These are splendid trees, and every
leaf on 'em is splendid, too, and the little spring I found is just
about as fine a spring as the forest holds. I slept in a good bed at the
Inn of the Eagle, but when I scrape up the dead leaves here, roll myself
in my blanket and lie on 'em I think I'll sleep better than I did
between four walls. What did you think of the Marquis Duquesne, Dave?"

"A man of parts, Robert. He has more military authority than any of our
Governors have, and if war comes he'll be a dangerous opponent."

"And it will come, Dave?"

"Looks like a certainty. You see, Robert, the King of France and the
King of England sitting on their golden thrones, only three or four
hundred miles apart, but three or four thousand miles from us, have a
dyspeptic fit, make faces at each other, and here in the woods we must
fall to fighting. Even Tayoga's people--and the King of France and the
King of England are nothing to them--must be drawn into it."

"Both Kings claim the Ohio country, which they will never see, and of
which they know nothing," said Tayoga, with a faint touch of sarcasm,
"but perhaps it belongs to the people who live in it."

"Maybe so, Tayoga! Maybe!" said Willet briskly, "but we'll not look for
trouble or unpleasant thoughts now. We three are too glad to be in the
woods again. Tayoga, suppose you scout about and see that no enemy's
near. Then we'll build up the fire, till it's burning bright, and
rejoice."

"It is well!" said Tayoga, as he slipped away among the trees, making
no sound as he went. Robert meanwhile gathered dead wood which lay
everywhere in abundance, and heaped it beside the fire ready for use.
But as Tayoga was gone some time he sat down again with his back to a
tree,