scalps."

Cap wore a tight solid queue, done up in eelskin, while the top
of his head was nearly bald; and he mechanically passed his hand
over both as if to make certain that each was in its right place.
He was at the bottom, however, a brave man, and had often faced
death with coolness, though never in the frightful forms in which
it presented itself under the brief but graphic picture of his
companion. It was too late to retreat; and he determined to put
the best face on the matter, though he could not avoid muttering
inwardly a few curses on the indiscretion with which his brother-in-law,
the Sergeant, had led him into his present dilemma.

"I make no doubt, Master Pathfinder," he answered, when these
thoughts had found time to glance through his mind, "that we shall
reach port in safety. What distance may we now be from the fort?"

"Little more than fifteen miles; and swift miles too, as the river
runs, if the Mingos let us go clear."

"And I suppose the woods will stretch along starboard and larboard,
as heretofore?"

"Anan?"

"I mean that we shall have to pick our way through these damned
trees."

"Nay, nay, you will go in the canoe, and the Oswego has been cleared
of its flood-wood by the troops. It will be floating down stream,