"As good men as any I have," the general said cordially. "Their only
fault is that they are in too great a hurry to attack the enemy."

"I agree with the rest, general," Peter said. "It's dull work wasting
our time here when we're wanted at home. I enlisted for six months,
and the sooner the time's up the better, say I."

"You have heard nothing moving?" the general asked. "One of the
Chippewas told me that he heard a canoe out in the lake. Ah! here he
is."

At that moment five or six men, headed by an Indian, issued from the
wood close by. It was too late for Peter to try to withdraw, but he
stepped aside a pace or two as the party approached.

"Well, have you found anything?" the general asked.

"No find," the Chippewa said shortly.

"I don't believe as there ever was a canoe there," the man who
followed him said. "It was jest a fancy of the Injun's."

"No fancy," the Indian asserted angrily. "Canoe there. No find."

"It might have been one of our own canoes," Montgomery said in a
conciliatory tone. "The Indians are seldom mistaken. Still, if no one
has landed it matters not either way."

"Only as we have had a tramp for nothing," the colonist said.
"However, there's time for a sleep yet. Hullo!" he exclaimed as his