be
found in the struggle with the elements and he always went back to shore
refreshed and stronger of spirit and flesh. He also had a feeling that
Tayoga might come by way of the lake, and when he was with the little
Indian fleet he invariably watched the watery horizon for a lone canoe, but
he never saw any.

The absence of news from his friends, and from the world to which they
belonged, was the most terrible burden of all. If the Indians had news they
told him none. He seemed to have vanished completely. But, however numerous
may have been his moments of despondency, he was not made of the stuff that
yields. The flexible steel always rebounded. He took thorough care of his
health and strength. In his close little tepee he flexed and tensed his
muscles and went through physical exercises every night and morning, but it
was on the lake in the fishing, where the Indians grew to recognize his
help, that he achieved most. Fighting the winds, the water and the cold, he
felt his muscles harden and his chest enlarge, and he would say to himself
that when the spring came and he escaped he would be more fit for the life
of a free forest runner than he had ever been before. Langlade, when he
returned, took notice of his increased size and strength and did not
withhold approval.

"I like any prisoner of mine to flourish," he laughed. "The more superior
you become the greater will be the reward for me when I dispose of you. You
have found the Dove all I promised you she should be, haven't you, Monsieur
Lennox?"

"All and more," replied Robert. "Although she may be out of sight I feel
that her eyes are always on me, and this is true of the night as well as
the day."

"A great woman, the Dove, and a wife to whom I give all credit. If it
should come into the king's mind to call me to Versailles and bestow upon
me some kind of an accolade perhaps Madame Langlade would not feel at home
in the great palace nor at the Grand Trianon, nor even at the Little
Trianon, and maybe I wouldn't either. But since no such idea will enter His
Majesty's mind, and I have no desire to leave the great forests, the Dove
is a perfect wife for me. She is the true wilderness helpmate, accomplished
in all the arts of the life I live and love, and with the eye and soul of a
warrior. I repeat, young Monsieur Lennox, where could I find a wife more
really sublime?"

"Nowhere, Monsieur Langlade. The more I see you two together the more
nearly I think you a