The practical hunter and scout was always more than a match for the Indian, man for man, but, when the raw levies of settlers were hastily gathered to stem invasion, they were invariably at a great disadvantage.

They were likely to be caught in ambush by overwhelming numbers, and to be cut down, as had just happened at Wyoming.

The same fate might attend an invasion of the Iroquois country, even by a large army of regular troops, and Henry and his comrades resolved upon doing their utmost to prevent it.

An army needed eyes, and it could have none better than those five pairs.

So they went swiftly up the valley and northward and eastward, into the country of the Iroquois.