o-between, but Hendrik hass had a warning, und he
will be afraid. Our night's work iss not all in vain. Peter, you haf
done well, but I knew you would. Now, we will haf some refreshment und
await the return of Tayoga."

"I believe," said Robert, "that in Albany, when one is in doubt what to
do one always eats. Is it not so?"

"It iss so," replied Mynheer Jacobus, smiling, "und what better could
one do? While you wait, build up the body, because when you build up the
body you build up the mind, too, und at the same time it iss a
pleasure."

Robert and Peter ate nothing, but Mynheer Jacobus partook amply of cold
beef and game, drank a great glass of home-made beer, and then smoked a
long pipe with intense satisfaction. One o'clock in the morning came,
then two, then three, and Mynheer Jacobus, taking the stem of his pipe
from his mouth, said:

"I think it will not be long now before Tayoga iss here. Long ago he
hass either caught hiss man or hiss man hass got away, und he iss
returning. I see hiss shadow now in the shrubbery. Let him in, Peter."

Tayoga entered the room, breathing a little more quickly than usual, his
dark eyes showing some disappointment.

"It wass not your fault that he got away, Tayoga," said Mynheer Jacobus
soothingly. "He had too long a start, und doubtless he was fleet of
foot. I think he iss the very kind of man who would be fleet of foot."

"I had to pick up his trail after he went through the alley," said
Tayoga, "and I lost time in doing so. When I found it he was out of the
main part of the town and in the outskirts, running towards the river.
Even then I might have caught him, but he sprang into the stream and
swam with great skill and speed. When I came upon the bank, he was too
far away for a shot from my pistol, and he escaped into the thickets on
the other shore."

"I wish we could have caught him," said Mynheer Jacobus. "Then we might
have uncovered much that I would like to know. What iss it, Tayoga? You
haf something more to tell!"

"Before he reached the river," said the Onondaga, "he tore in pieces a
letter, a letter that must have been enclosed in an envelope. I saw the
little white pieces drift away before the wind. I suppose he was afraid
I might catch him, and so he destroyed the letter which must have had a
tale to tell. When I came back I looked for the pieces, but I found only
one large enough to bear anything that had meaning." He took from his
tunic a fragment of w