Chapter 3: In the Cliff

It was only a half mile to the promised land and Robert expected a quick and easy voyage, as they were powerful swimmers and could push the tree before them without trouble.

“When I reach the shore and get well back of the lake,” he said to Tayoga, “I mean to lie down in a thicket and sleep forty-eight hours.

I am entitled now to a rest that long.”

“Dagaeoga will sleep when the spirits of earth and air decree it, and not before,” replied the Onondaga gravely. “Can you see anything of our foes in the south?”

“Not a trace.”

“Then your eyes are not as good as mine or you do not use them as well, because I see a speck on the water blacker than the surface of the lake, and it is moving.”

“Where, Tayoga?”

“Look toward the eastern shore, where the cliff rises tall and almost straight.”

“Ah, I see it now. It is a canoe, and it is moving.”

“So it is, Dagaeoga, and it is coming our way. Did I not tell you that Manitou, no matter how much he favors us, will not help us all the time? Not even the great and pious Tododaho, when he was on earth, expected so much. Now I think that after saving you with the bird and all of us with the empty canoe he means to leave us to our own strength and courage, and see what we will do.”

“And it will be strange, if after being protected so far by a power greater than our own we can’t protect ourselves now,” said Willet gravely.

“The canoe is coming fast,” said Tayoga. “I can see it growing on the water.”

“So it is, and I infer from its speed that it has at least four paddles in it. There’s no doubt they are disappointed in not finding us farther down, and their boat has come back to look for us.”

“This is not the only tree uprooted by the wind and afloat on the lake,” said Tayoga, “and now it must be our purpose to make the warriors think it has come into the water naturally.”

Long before the French word “camouflage” was brought into general use by a titanic war the art of concealment and illusion was practiced universally by the natives of the North American wilderness. It was in truth their favorite stratagem in their unending wars, and there was high praise for those who could use it best.

“Well spoken, Tayoga,” said Willet. “Luckily these living branches hide us, and, as the wind still blows strongly toward the south, we must let the tree float in that direction.”

“And not go toward the mainland!” said Robert.

“Aye, lad, for the present. It’s stern necessity. If the warriors in that canoe saw the tree floating against the wind they’d know we’re here. Trust ‘em for that. I think we’re about to run another gauntlet.”

The trunk now drifted with the wind, though the three edged it ever so slightly, but steadily, toward the shore.

Meanwhile the canoe grew and grew, and they saw, as Willet had surmised, that it contained four paddles. It was evident too that they were on a quest, as the boat began to veer about, and the four Indians swept the lake with eager eyes.

The tree drifted on. Farther to the west and near the shore, another tree was floating in the same manner, and off to the east a third was beckoning in like fashion. There was nothing in the behavior of the three trees to indicate that one of them was different from the other two.

The eyes of the savages passed over them, one after another, but they saw no human being hidden within their boughs. Yet Robert at least, when those four pairs of eyes rested on his tree, felt them burning into his back. It was a positive relief, when they moved on and began to hunt elsewhere.

“They will yet bring their canoe much closer,” whispered Willet. “It’s too much to expect that they will let us go so easily, and we’ve got to keep up the illusion quite a while longer. Don’t push on the tree.

The wind is dying a little, and our pace must be absolutely the pace of the breeze. They notice everything and if we were to go too fast they’d be sure to see it.”

They no longer sought to control their floating support, and, as the wind suddenly sank very much, it hung lazily on the crests of little waves.

It was a hard test to endure, while the canoe with the four relentless warriors in it rowed about seeking them. Robert paid all the price of a vivid and extremely brilliant imagination. While those with such a temperament look far ahead and have a vision of triumphs to come out of the distant future, they also see far more clearly the troubles and dangers that confront them. So their nerves are much more severely tried than are those of the ordinary and apathetic. Great will power must come to their relief, and thus it was with Robert. His body quivered, though not with the cold of the water, but his soul was steady.

Although the wind sank, which was against them, the darkness increased, and the fact that two other trees were afloat within view, was greatly in their favor. It gave them comrades in that lazy drifting and diverted suspicion.

“If they conclude to make a close examination of our tree, what shall we do?” whispered Robert.

“We’ll be at a great disadvantage in the water,” the hunter whispered back, “but we’ll have to get our rifles loose from their lashings and make a fight of it. I’m hoping it won’t come to that.”

The canoe approached the tree and then veered away again, as if the warriors were satisfied with its appearance. Certainly a tree more innocent in looks never floated on the waves of Lake George.

The three were masters of illusion and deception, and they did not do a single thing to turn the tree from its natural way of drifting. It obeyed absolutely the touch of the wind and not that of their hands, which rested as lightly as down upon the trunk. Once the wind stopped entirely and the tree had no motion save that of the swell. It wandered idly, a lone derelict upon a solitary lake.

Robert scarcely breathed when the canoe was sent their way. He was wholly unconscious of the water in which he was sunk to the shoulders, but every imaginative nerve was alive to the immense peril.

“If they return and come much nearer we must immerse to the eyes,” whispered Willet. “Then they would have to be almost upon us before they saw us. It will make it much harder for us to get at our weapons, but we must take that risk too.”

“They have turned,” said Robert, “and here they come!”

It looked this time as if the savages had decided to make a close and careful inspection of the tree, bearing directly toward it, and coming so close that Robert could see their fierce, painted faces well and the muscles rising and falling on their powerful arms as they swept their paddles through the water. Now, he prayed that the foliage of the tree would hide them well and he sank his body so deep in the lake that a little water trickled into his mouth, while only the tips of his fingers rested on the trunk. The hunter and the Onondaga were submerged as deeply as he, the upper parts of their faces and their hair blending with the water. When he saw how little they were disclosed in the dusk his confidence returned.

The four savages brought the canoe within thirty feet, but the floating tree kept its secret. Its lazy drift was that of complete innocence and their eyes could not see the dark heads that merged so well with the dark trunk. They gazed for a half minute or so, then brought their canoe about in a half circle and paddled swiftly away toward the second tree.

“Now Tododaho on his star surely put it in their minds to go away,” whispered the Onondaga, “and I do not think they will come back again.”

“Even so, we can’t yet make haste,” said the hunter cautiously. “If this tree seems to act wrong they’ll see it though at a long distance and come flying down on us.”

“The Great Bear is right, as always, but the wind is blowing again, and we can begin to edge in toward the shore.”

“So we can. Now we’ll push the tree slowly toward the right. All together, but be very gentle. Robert, don’t let your enthusiasm run away with you. If we depart much from the course of the wind they’ll be after us again no matter how far away they are now.”

“They have finished their examination of the second tree,” said Tayoga in his precise school English, “and now they are going to the third, which will take them a yet greater distance from us.”

“So they are. Fortune is with us.”

They no longer felt it necessary to keep submerged to the mouth, but drew themselves up, resting their elbows on the trunk, floating easily in the buoyant water. They had carefully avoided turning the tree in any manner, and their arms, ammunition and packs were dry and safe.

But they had been submerged so long that they were growing cold, and now that the immediate danger seemed to have been passed they realized it.

“I like Lake George,” said Robert. “It’s a glorious lake, a beautiful lake, a majestic lake, the finest lake I know; but that is no reason why I should want to live in its waters.”

“Dagaeoga is never satisfied,” said Tayoga. “He might have been sunk in some shallow, muddy lake in a flat country, but instead he is put in this noble one with its beautiful cool waters, and the grand mountains are all about him.”

“But this is the second time I’ve been immersed in a very short space, Tayoga, and just now I crave dry land. I can’t recall a single hour or a single moment when I ever wanted it more than I do this instant.”

“I’m of a mind with you in that matter, Robert,” said the hunter, “and if all continues to go as well as it’s now going, we’ll set foot on it in fifteen minutes. That canoe is close to the third tree, and they’ve stopped to look at it. I think we can push a little faster toward the land. They can’t notice our slant at that distance. Aye, that’s right, lads! Now the cliffs are coming much nearer, and they look real friendly. I see a little cove in there where our good tree can land, and it won’t be hard for us to find our way up the banks, though they do rise so high. Now, steady! In we go! It’s a snug little cove, put here to receive us. Be cautious how you rise out of the water, lads!

Those fellows see like owls in the dark, and they’d trace us outlined here against the shore. That’s it, Tayoga, you always do the right thing. We’ll crawl out of the lake behind this little screen of bushes. Now, have you lads got all your baggage loose from the tree?”

“Yes,” replied Robert.

“Then we’ll let it go.”

“It’s been a fine tree, a kind tree,” said Robert, “and I’ve no doubt Tayoga is right when he thinks a good spirit friendly to us has gone into it.”

They pushed it off and saw it float again on the lake, borne on by the wind. Then they dried their bodies as well as they could in their haste, and resumed their clothing. The hunter shook his gigantic frame, and he felt the strength pour back into his muscles and veins, when he grasped his rifle. It had been his powerful comrade for many years, and he now stood where he could use it with deadly effect, if the savages should come.

They rested several minutes, before beginning the climb of the cliff, and saw a second and then a third canoe coming out of the south, evidently seeking them.

“They’re pretty sure now that we haven’t escaped in that direction,” said Willet, “and they’ll be back in full force, looking for us. We got off the lake just in time.”

The cliffs towered over them to a height of nearly two thousand feet, but they began the ascent up a slanting depression that they had seen from the lake, well covered with bushes, and they took it at ease, looking back occasionally to watch the futile hunt of the canoes for them.

“We’re not out of their ring yet,” said Willet. “They’ll be carrying on another search for us on top of the cliffs.”

“Don’t discourage us, Dave,” said Robert. “We feel happy now having escaped one danger, and we won’t escape the other until we come to it.”

“Perhaps you’re right, lad. We’ll enjoy our few minutes of safety while we can and the sight of those canoes scurrying around the lake, looking for their lost prey, will help along our merriment.”

“That’s true,” said Robert, “and I think I’ll take a glance at them now just to soothe my soul.”

They were about three quarters of the way up the cliff, and the three, turning at the same time, gazed down at a great height upon the vast expanse of Lake George. The night had lightened again, a full moon coming out and hosts of stars sparkling in the heavens. The surface of the lake gleamed in silver and they distinctly saw the canoes cruising about in their search for the three. They also saw far in the south a part of the fleet returning, and Robert breathed a sigh of thankfulness that they had escaped at last from the water.

They turned back to the top, but the white lad felt a sudden faintness and had he not clung tightly to a stout young bush he would have gone crashing down the slope. He quickly recovered himself and sought to hide his momentary weakness, but the hunter had noticed his stumbling step and gave him a keen, questing glance. Then he too stopped.