n it do not go hungry.
They have deer, bear, fish and birds also. The pleasant odors of them
all come to my nostrils, and make me hungry."

"That's too much for me," said Robert. "I can detect the blended
savor, but I know not of what it consists. Now we go on, I suppose,
and find out what this camp holds."

"We wouldn't dream of turning back," said the hunter. "Did you notice
anything familiar, Robert, about the figure that came forward to meet
Garay?"

"Now that you speak of it, I did, but I can't recall the identity of
the man."

"Think again!"

"Ah, now I have him! It was the French officer, Colonel Auguste de
Courcelles, who gave us so much trouble in Canada and elsewhere."

"That's the man," said Willet. "I knew him at once. Now, wherever De
Courcelles is mischief is likely to be afoot, but he's not the only
Frenchman here. We'll spy out this camp to the full. There's time yet
before the sunrise comes."

Now the three used all the skill in stalking with which they were
endowed so plentifully, creeping forward without noise through the
bushes, making so little stir among them that if a wary warrior had
been looking he would have taken the slight movement of twig or leaf
for the influence of a wandering breeze. Gradually the whole camp came
into view, and Tayoga's prediction that it would be a large one proved
true.

Robert lay on a little knoll among small bushes growing thick, where
the keenest eye could not see him, but where his own vision swept
the whole wide shallow dip, in which the French and Indian force was
encamped. Twelve fires, all good and large, burned gayly, throwing out
ruddy flames from great beds of glowing coals, while the aroma of food
was now much stronger and very appetizing.

The force numbered at least three hundred men, of whom about one third
were Frenchmen or Canadians, all in uniform. Robert recognized De
Courcelles and near him Jumonville, his invariable comrade, and a
little farther on a handsome and gallant young face.

"It's De Galissonniere of the Battalion Languedoc, whom we met in
Quebec," he whispered to Tayoga. "Now I wonder what he's doing here."

"He's come with the others on a projected foray," Tayoga whispered
back. "But look beyond him, Dagaeoga, and you will see one more to be
dreaded than De Courcelles or Jumonville."

Robert's gaze followed that of the young Onondaga and was intercepted
by the huge figure of Tandakora, the Ojibway, who stood erect by one