so steep by any means, and, by holding to the rocky
outcrops and scant bushes, they could make the full descent of the
mountain. While they rested for a little space where they were, Robert
suddenly began to laugh.

"Is Dagaeoga rejoicing so soon?" asked Tayoga

"Why shouldn't I laugh," replied Robert, "when we have such a good
jest?"

"What jest? I see none."

"Why, to think of Tandakora sitting at the foot of our peak and
watching there three or four days, waiting all the time for us to die
of hunger and thirst, and we far to the south. At least he'll see that
the mountain doesn't get away, and Tandakora, I take it, has small
sense of humor. When he penetrates the full measure of the joke he'll
love us none the less. Perhaps, though, De Galissonniere will not
mourn, because he knows that if we were taken after a siege he could
not save us from the cruelty of the savages."

The hunter and the Onondaga were forced to laugh a little with him,
and then, rested thoroughly, they resumed the descent, leaving their
cable to tell its own tale, later on. The rest of the slope, although
possible, was slow and painful, testing their strength and skill to
the utmost, but they triumphed over everything and before day were in
a gorge, with the entire height of the peak towering above them and
directly between them and their enemies. Here they flung themselves
on the ground and rested until day, when they began a rapid flight
southward, curving about among the peaks, as the easiest way led them.

The air rapidly grew warmer, showing that the sudden winter had come
only on the high mountains, and that autumn yet lingered on the lower
levels. The gorgeous reds and yellows and browns and vivid shades
between returned, but there was a haze in the air and the west was
dusky.

"Storm will come again before night," said Tayoga.

"I think so too," said Willet, "and as I've no mind to be beaten about
by it, suppose we build a spruce shelter in the gorge here and wait
until it passes."

The two lads were more than willing, feeling that the chance of
pursuit had passed for a long time at least, and they set to work with
their sharp hatchets, rapidly making a crude but secure wickiup, as
usual against the rocky side of a hill. Before the task was done the
sky darkened much more, and far in the west thunder muttered.

"It's rolling down a gorge," said Robert, "and hark! you can hear it
also in the south."

From a point, far distant