About midnight the force of the current began to abate and Robert and Willet used the paddles.  The darkness also thinned.  The rainless clouds drifted away and disclosed a full moon, which turned the dusk of the water to silver.  The stars came out in cluster after cluster and the skies became a shining blue.  The wilderness revealed itself in another and splendid phase, and Robert saw and admired.

“How long will we go on, Dave?” The words were his and they were the first to break the long silence.

“Until nearly daylight,” replied Willet.  “Then we can land, take the canoe into the bushes and rest.  What do you say, Tayoga?”

“It is good,” replied the Onondaga.  “We are not weary, because the river, of its own accord, has borne us on its bosom, but we must sleep.  We would not wish to appear heavy of eye and mind before the children of Onontio.”

“Well spoken, Tayoga,” said the hunter.  “An Iroquois chief knows that appearance and dignity count, and you were right to remind us of it.  I think that by the next sunset we’ll be meeting French, not the Canadian French that they call habitants, but outposts made up mostly of officers and soldiers from France.  They’ll be very curious about us, naturally so, and since your new friend Dayohogo has announced that you are a great orator, you can do most of the talking and explaining, Robert.”

“I’ll talk my best,” replied young Lennox.  “Nobody can do more.”

As agreed, they drew the canoe into the bushes shortly before daylight, and slept several hours.  Then they returned to the river and resumed their journey.  By the middle of the afternoon they saw signs of habitation, or at least of the presence of human beings.  They beheld two smokes on the right bank, and one on the left, trailing black lines against the blue of the sky, but they were all far away, and they did not care to stop and determine their origin.

Shortly before sunset they saw a camp fire, very close on the eastern shore, and as they drew near the figures of men in uniform were visible against the red glow.

“I think we’d better draw in here,” said Robert.  “This is undoubtedly an outpost, and, likely, an officer of some importance is in charge.  Ours is a mission of peace, and we want to placate as many people as we can, as we go.”

“It is so,” said Tayoga, making a sweep or two of the paddle, and sending the canoe in a diagonal line toward the designated shore.

Two men in blue uniforms with white facings walked to the edge of the water and looked at them with curiosity.  Robert gave them a gaze as inquiring as their own, and after the habit of the forest, noted them carefully.  He took them to be French of France.  One was about forty years of age, rather tall, built well, his face browned by forest life.  He had black, piercing eyes and a strong hooked nose.  A man of resolution but cold of heart, Robert said to himself.  The other, a little smaller, and a little younger, was of much the same type.  The uniforms of both were fine and neat, and they bore themselves as officers of importance.  Like St. Luc, they fortified Robert’s opinion of what he was going to find at Quebec.