At noon day after tomorrow Tayoga will be here." Another man who went out to bring in a horse that had been left grazing near the fort was fired upon, not with rifles or muskets but with arrows, and grazed in the shoulder.

He had, however, the presence of mind to spring upon the animal's back and gallop for Fort Refuge, where the watchful Willet threw open the gate to the stockade, let him in, then quickly closed and barred it fast.

A long fierce whining cry, the war whoop, came from the forest.
"The siege has closed in already," said Robert, "and it's well that we have no other men outside." "Except Tayoga," said Wilton.
"The barrier of the red army doesn't count so far as Tayoga is concerned.

How many times must I tell you, Will, that Tayoga will come at the time appointed ?" After the shout from the woods there was a long silence that weighed upon the young soldiers, isolated thus in the wintry and desolate wilderness.

They were city men, used to the streets and the sounds of people, and their situation had many aspects that were weird and appalling.