I knew all the time that you would come with us." The stumps, where the forest had been cut away, stretched for a distance of several hundred yards up the slope, and, a little distance from the breastwork, the dark shadow of Black Rifle came forward to meet them.
"Nothing yet ?" asked the hunter.
"Nothing so far.

Three or four good men are with me among the stumps, but not a warrior has yet appeared.

I suppose they know we'll be on watch here, and it's not worth while taking so great a risk." They advanced to the far edge of the stump region and crouched there.
The night was now quite dark, the moon almost hidden, the stars but few, and the forest a solid black line before them.
"Why can't Tayoga use his ears ?" said Grosvenor.

"He'll hear them, though a mile away." "A little farther on and he will," replied Willet, "but we, in our turn, don't dare to go deep into the forest." A hundred yards more and the Onondaga put ear to earth, but it was a long time before he announced anything.
"I hear footsteps fairly near to us," he said at last, "and I think they are those of warriors.

They would be more cautious, but they do not believe we are outside the line of logs.