y sleep I heard a gunshot in the distance."

"In your sleep?"

"Yes, I hear as well asleep as awake and remember what I hear. But now
you must follow me close, and we shall be in the fort soon."

"You have wonderful ears, indeed," said De Catinat, as they picked their
way through the tangled wood. "How could you hear that these men were
following us to-day? I could make out no sound when they were within
hand-touch of us."

"I did not hear them at first."

"You saw them?"

"No, nor that either."

"Then how could you know that they were there?"

"I heard a frightened jay flutter among the trees after we were past it.
Then ten minutes later I heard the same thing. I knew then that there
was some one on our trail, and I listened."

"_Peste!_ you are a woodsman indeed!"

"I believe that these woods are swarming with Iroquois, although we have
had the good fortune to miss them. So great a chief as Brown Moose
would not start on the path with a small following nor for a small
object. They must mean mischief upon the Richelieu. You are not sorry
now that you did not bring madame?"

"I thank God for it!"

"The woods will not be safe, I fear, until the partridge berries are out
once more. You must stay at Sainte Marie until then, unless the
seigneur can spare men to guard you."

"I had rather stay there forever than expose my wife to such devils."

"Ay, devils they are, if ever devils walked upon earth. You winced,
monsieur, when I took Brown Moose's scalp, but when you have seen as
much of the Indians as I have done your heart will be as hardened as
mine. And now we are on the very borders of the clearing, and the
blockhouse lies yonder among the clump of maples. They do not keep very
good watch, for I have been expecting during these last ten minutes to
hear the _qui vive_. You did not come as near to Sainte Marie
unchallenged, and yet De Lannes is as old a soldier as La Noue. We can
scarce see now, but yonder, near the river, is where he exercises his
men."

"He does so now," said Amos. "I see a dozen of them drawn up in a line
at their drill."

"No sentinels, and all the men at drill!" cried Du Lhut in contempt.
"It is as you say, however, for I can see them myself with their ranks
open, and each as stiff and straight as a pine stump. One would think
to see them stand so still that there was not an Indian nearer than
Orange. We shall go across to them, and by Saint Anne, I shall tell
the