But St.Luc, of course, though noticing it, ignored it in manner.

He extended his hand promptly to the great hunter who grasped it in his mighty palm and shook it.
"I have heard of you, Mr.Willet," he said.

"Our brave Canadians are expert in the forest and the chase, and the good Dubois here is one of the best, but I know that none of them can excel you." Robert, watching him, could not say that he spoke without sincerity, and Willet took the words as they were uttered.
"I've had a long time for learning," he said modestly, "and I suppose experience teaches the dullest of us." Robert saw that the Ojibway had now risen and that he and the Onondaga were regarding each other with a gaze so intent and fierce, so compact of hatred that he was startled and his great pulses began to beat hard.
But it was only for an instant or two that the two warriors looked thus into hostile eyes.

Then both sat down and their faces became blank and expressionless.
The gaze of St.Luc roved to the Onondaga and rested longest upon him.
Robert saw the blue eyes sparkle, and he knew that the mind of the chevalier was arrested by some important thought.

He could almost surmise what it was, but for the present he preferred to keep silent and watch, because his curiosity was great and natural, and he wondered what St.Luc would say next.
The Onondaga and the hunter sat down on a fallen tree trunk and inspected the others with a quiet but observant gaze.