The belief became a conviction that whoever possessed Andiatarocte and Oneadatote was destined to possess the continent.
The woods themselves, like the lake, were mystic and brooding.

Their heavy foliage was ruffled by no wind, and no birds sang.

The wild animals, knowing that man, fiercer than they, would soon join in mortal combat, had all fled away.

Robert heard only the faint crush of moccasins as the hundred, white and red, sped onward.
An hour, and a dim light showed on a slope gentler than the rest, leading down to the lake.

It was a spark so faint and vague that it might have passed to the ordinary eye as a firefly, but rangers and Mohawks knew well that it came from some portion of St.Luc's camp and that the enemy was close at hand.