The Onondaga knelt and examined the traces minutely. When he rose his
eyes were blazing.

"He did have a good helper, an able assistant, O Great Bear!" he said.
"He had one whom he trusted, one whom I could trust, one whom you could
trust. The Mountain Wolf stood by this bush and talked often with one
whom we shall be very glad to see, O Great Bear, one whom the Mountain
Wolf himself was both surprised and glad to see."

"Your meaning is beyond me, Tayoga."

"It will not be beyond you very long, O Great Bear! When Tododaho,
reading my thoughts, looked down on me last night from the great star on
which he has lived four hundred years, and smiled upon me, his smile
meant what it said. The Hodenosaunee are the children of Todohado and
Hayowentha, and they never make sport of them, nor of any one of them."

"I'm still in the dark of the matter, Tayoga!"

"Does not Great Bear remember what I was thinking about when Todohado
smiled? What I said and always believed is true, O Great Bear! I
believed it against all the world and I was right. Look at the traces
beside those of the Mountain Wolf! They are light and faint, but look
well at them, O Great Bear! I would know them anywhere! I have seen them
thousands of times, and so has the Great Bear! Dagaeoga has come back!
He stood here beside the Mountain Wolf! He was on this hill among the
bushes all through the night, while the rangers fought the warriors
among the trees below! He and the Mountain Wolf talked together and
consulted while they looked at the forest! Lo! my brother Dagaeoga has
come back out of the mists and vapors into which he went nearly a year