Willet shot a deer and Tayoga brought down a rare wild turkey, while Robert caught some wonderful lake trout.

So they had plenty of food, and they were content to wait.
They were sure that Garay had not yet gone, as the storms that had threatened them would certainly have delayed his departure, and neither the hunter nor the Onondaga could discover any traces of footsteps.

Fortunately the air continued to turn warmer and the lower country in which they now were had all the aspects of Indian summer.
Robert, shaken a little perhaps by the great hardships and dangers through which he had passed, though he may not have realized at the time the weight upon his nerves, recovered quickly, and, as usual, passed, with the rebound, to the heights of optimism.
"What do you expect to get from Garay ?" he asked Willet as he changed places with him on the trail.
"I'm not sure," replied the hunter, "but if we catch him we'll find something.

We've got to take our bird first, and then we'll see.

He went north and west with a message, and that being the case he's bound to take one back.