ered a bitter
repulse. Seventy or eighty rifles, aimed by cool and experienced
sharpshooters, poured in a fire which they could not withstand, and so
many warriors were lost that the Ojibway and the Frenchman retreated.
The Great Bear and the Mountain Wolf would not allow their eager men to
follow, lest in their turn they fall into an ambush.

Later in the day the Indian horde returned a second time to the attack,
with the same result, and when night came Tayoga and several others who
went forward to scout reported that they had withdrawn several miles.
The white leaders then decided in conference that they had done enough
for their purpose, and, after a long rest on their arms, withdrew slowly
in the path of the retreating train, ready for another combat, if
pursued too closely, but feeling sure that Tandakora and De Courcelles
would not risk a battle once more.

They overtook the train late that evening and their welcome was enough
to warm their hearts and to repay them for all the hardships and dangers
endured. Colden was the first to give them thanks, and his fine young
face showed his emotion.

"I'm sorry I couldn't have been back there with you," he said, when he
heard the report Robert made; "you had action, and you faced the enemy,
while we have merely been running over the hills."

"In truth you've made a good run of it," said Robert, "and as I see it,
it was just as necessary for you to run as it was for us to fight. We
had great luck, too, in the coming of Rogers and his men."

That night the train, for the first time since it began its flight, made
a real camp. Willet, Rogers and all the great foresters thought it safe,
as they were coming now so near to the settled regions, and the faces of
the pursuers had been scorched so thoroughly. Scouts and skirmishers
were thrown out on all sides, and then fires were built of the fallen
brushwood that lay everywhere in the forest. The ample supplies in the
wagons were drawn upon freely, and the returning victors feasted at
their leisure.

It was a happy time for Robert. His imaginative mind responded as usual
to time and place. They had won one victory. It was no small triumph to
protect the fugitive train, and so they would win many more. He already
saw them through the flame of his sanguine temperament, and the glow of
the leaping fires helped in the happy effect. All around him were
cheerful faces and he heard the chatter of happy voices, their owners
happy