hey looked at the forest! Lo! my brother Dagaeoga has
come back out of the mists and vapors into which he went nearly a year
ago, for he is my brother, though my skin is red and his is white, and
he has been my brother ever since we were little children together! Lo!
Great Bear, Dagaeoga has come back as I told you, as I alone told you he
would, and my heart sings a song of joy within me, because I have loved
my brother! Look! look, Great Bear, and see where the living Dagaeoga
has walked, not six hours since!"

Willet knelt and examined the traces. He too was a great trailer, but he
did not possess the superhuman instinct that had come down through the
generations to the Onondaga. He merely saw traces, lighter than those
made by Rogers. But if his eyes could not, his mind did tell him that
Tayoga was right. The ring of conviction was so strong in the voice of
the Onondaga that Willet's faith was carried with it.

"It must be as you tell me, Tayoga," he said. "I do not doubt it. Robert
has been here with Rogers. He has come back out of the mists and vapors
that you tell about, and he walked this hill in the living flesh only a
few hours ago. Where could he have been? How has it happened?"

"That does not concern us just now, Great Bear. It is enough to know
that he is alive, and we rejoice in it. Before many hours we shall speak
with him, and then he can tell his tale. I know it will be a strange and
wonderful one, and unless Degaeoga has lost his gift of words, which I
think impossible, it will lose no color in the telling."

"Let him spin what yarn he pleases, I care not. All I ask is to put eyes
on the lad again. It seems, when I think of it in cold blood, that it
can scarce be true, Tayoga. You're sure you made no mistake about the
footsteps?"

"None, Great Bear. It is impossible. I know as truly that the living
Dagaeoga stood on this hill six hours ago as I know that you stand
before me now."

"Then lead on, Tayoga, and we'll follow the trail of the rangers. We
ought to overtake 'em by noon or soon after."

The broad path, left by the rangers, was like the trail of an army to
Tayoga, and they followed it at great speed, keeping a wary eye for a
possible ambush on either side. The traces grew fresher and fresher, and
Tayoga read them with an eager eye.

"The Mountain Wolf, Dagaeoga and the rangers are walking rapidly," he
said. "I think it likely that they are going to join Amherst in his
advance on Ticonde