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The Sun Of Quebec - A Story of a Great Crisis by Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler
page 294 of 366 (80%)
work as his, heavy with clouds and very dark. He would creep close and
strike before his presence was even suspected.

Tandakora lay quiet with his warriors, while night came and its darkness
grew, and he listened for the sound of men on the trail. Instead he
heard the weird, desolate cry of an owl to his left, and then the
equally lone and desolate cry of another to his right. But the warriors
still lay quiet. They had heard owls often and were not afraid of them.
Then the cry came from the north, and now it was repeated from the
south. There was a surfeit of owls, very much too many of them, and they
called to one another too much. Tandakora did not like it. It was almost
like a visitation of evil spirits. Those weird, long-drawn cries,
singularly piercing on a still night, were bad omens. Some of his
warriors stirred and became uneasy, but Tandakora quieted them sternly
and promised that the Bostonnais would soon be along. Hope aroused
again, the men plucked up courage and resumed their patient waiting.

Then the cry of the panther, long drawn, wailing like the shriek of a
woman, came from the east and the west, and presently from the north and
the south also, followed soon by the dreadful hooting of the owls, and
then by the fierce growls of the bear. Tandakora, in spite of himself,
in spite of his undoubted courage, in spite of his vast experience in
the forest, shuddered. The darkness was certainly full of wicked
spirits, and they were seeking prey. So many owls and bears and panthers
could not be abroad at once in a circle about him. But Tandakora shook
himself and resolved to stand fast. He encouraged his warriors, who were
already showing signs of fright, and refused to let any one go.

But the forest chorus grew. Tandakora heard the gobble of the wild
turkey as he used to hear it in his native west, only he was sure that
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