Rifle live, too. St. Luc was defeated in the
battle, and he has gone to join Dieskau at Crown Point, else he would be
here. I see into your black heart, Tandakora, and I see there nothing
but lies."

The eyes of the huge savage once more shot dark fire, and he lifted his
hand, but once again he controlled himself, though the taunts of Tayoga
had gone in deep and they stung like barbs. Then, feeling that the talk
was not in his favor, but that the situation was all to his liking, he
turned away and gave orders to his warriors. They formed instantly in
single file, Tayoga near the center, Tandakora just behind him, and
marched swiftly toward the north.

The Onondaga knew that their course would not bring them to Crown Point,
which now lay more toward the east. Nor was it likely that they would go
there. Dieskau and the French officers would scarcely allow him to be
burned in their camp, and Tandakora would keep away from it until his
hideous work was done.

Now Tayoga, despite his cynicism and apparent indifference, was all
watchfulness. He knew that, for the present, any attempt to escape was
hopeless, but he wished to observe the country through which he was
passing, and see everything pertaining to it as far as the eye could
reach. It was always well to know where one was, and he had been taught
from infancy to observe everything, the practice being one of the
important conditions of life in the wilderness.

The soul of Tandakora, who walked just behind him, was full of savage
joy. It was true that Lennox had escaped, but Tayoga was an important
capture. He was of a powerful family of the Onondagas, whom the Ojibway
hated. Despite his youth, his fame as a warrior was already great, and
in destroying him Tandakora would strike both at the Hodenosaunee and
the white people who were his friends. Truly, it had been the Ojibway's
lucky day.

As they went on, Tandakora's belief that it was his day of days became a
conviction. Perhaps they would yet find Lennox, who had taken to such
swift flight, and before the sun set they could burn the two friends
together. His black heart was full of joy as he laughed in silence and
to himself. In the forest to his right a bird sang, a sweet, piercing
note, and he thought the shoulders of the captive in front of him
quivered for a single instant. And well they might quiver! It was a
splendid world to leave amid fire and pain, and the sweet, piercing note
of the bird would remind T