"Can't the Great Bear guess?" said the Onondaga.

"No, Tayoga. How should I?"

"Doesn't Great Bear remember the fort in the forest, the one called
Refuge?"

"Of course I do, Tayoga! And the brave lads, Colden and Wilton and
Carson and their comrades who defended it so long and so well. That's
the most likely point of attack, and now, since Braddock's army is
destroyed it's too far in the wilderness, too exposed, and should be
abandoned. Suppose we carry a warning!"

Robert's eyes glistened. The idea made a strong appeal to him. He had
mellow memories of those Philadelphia lads, and it would be pleasant to
see them again. The three, in bearing the alarm, might achieve, too, a
task that would lighten, in a measure, the terror along the border. It
would be a relief at least to do something while the government
disagreed and delayed.

"Let's start at once for Fort Refuge," he said, "and help them to get
away before the storm breaks. What do you say, Tayoga?"

"It is what we ought to do," replied the Onondaga, in his precise
English of the schools.

"Come," said Willet, leading the way, and the three, leaving the fire
behind them, marched rapidly into the north and east. Two miles gone,
and they stopped to study the sun, by which they meant to take their