The thunder which had rumbled almost incessantly, like a mighty groaning, now ceased entirely, and the last flash of lightning burned across the lake.

It showed the fleet of the foe not more than fifty yards away now, and, so far as Robert could tell, the Indian sentinels had yet taken no alarm.

Three were crouched in the boats with their blankets drawn about their shoulders to protect them from the cold rain, and the four who had been standing on the land were huddled under the trees with their blankets wrapped about their bodies also.
"Do you think we'll really reach the fleet unobstructed ?" whispered Robert to Tayoga.
"It does not seem possible," the Onondaga whispered back.

"The favor of Areskoui is great to us, but the miracle he works in our behalf could hardly go so far.

Now the word comes from both Daganoweda and the Great Bear, and we swim faster.