of escape, but it did not seem so sure now.
In former wars many prisoners taken on raids into Canada had never
been heard of again, and when he reflected in cold blood he knew that
the odds were heavy against a successful flight. Yet there was Tayoga.
His warning shot had enabled the Onondaga to evade the band, and his
comrade would never desert him. All his surpassing skill and tenacity
would be devoted to his aid. In that lay his hope.

They pressed on toward the north as fast as they could go, and when
night came they were all exhausted, but they ate heavily again and
Robert received his share. Langlade continued to treat him kindly,
though he still had the feeling that the partisan, if it served him,
would be fully as cruel as the Indians. At night, although they built
big fires, Langlade invariably posted a strong watch, and Robert
noticed also that he usually shared it, or a part of it, from which
habit he surmised that the partisan had received the name of the Owl.
He had hoped that Tayoga might have a chance to rescue him in the
dark, but he saw now that the vigilance was too great.

He hid his intense disappointment and kept as cheerful a face as he
could. Langlade, the only white man in the Indian band, was drawn
to him somewhat by the mere fact of racial kinship, and the two
frequently talked together in the evenings in what was a sort of
compulsory friendliness, Robert in this manner picking up scraps of
information which when welded together amounted to considerable, being
thus confirmed in his belief that Willet with the letter had reached
the lake in time. St. Luc with a formidable force had undertaken a
swift march on Albany, but the town had been put in a position of
defense, and St. Luc's vanguard had been forced to retreat by a
large body of rangers after a severe conflict. As the success of the
chevalier's daring enterprise had depended wholly on surprise, he had
then withdrawn northward.

But Robert could not find out by any kind of questions where St. Luc
was, although he learned that Garay had never returned to Albany and
that Hendrik Martinus had made an opportune flight. Langlade, who was
thoroughly a wilderness rover, talked freely and quite boastfully
of the French power, which he deemed all pervading and invincible.
Despite the battle at Lake George the fortunes of war had gone so far
in favor of France and Canada and against Britain and the Bostonnais.
When the great campaign was renewed