"Yes! yes!"

"If four go down and only one is left, then he whoever he may be, must go
on and win alone?"

"Yes! yes!" came forth with deep emphasis.




CHAPTER II

A FOREST ENVOY


A group of men were seated in a pleasant valley, where the golden beams of
the sun sifted in myriads through the green leaves. They were about fifty
in number and all were white. Most of them were dressed in Old World
fashion, doublets, knee breeches, hose, and cocked hats. Nearly all were
dark; olive faces, black hair, and black pointed beards, but now and then
one had fair hair, and eyes of a cold, pale blue. Manner, speech, looks,
and dress, alike differentiated them from the borderers. They were not the
kind of men whom one would expect to find in these lonely woods in the
heart of North America.

The leader of the company--and obviously he was such--was one of the few
who belonged to the blonde type. His eyes were of the chilly, metallic
blue, and his hair, long and fair, curled at the ends. His dress, of some
fine, black cloth, was scrupulously neat and clean, and a silver-hilted