They had some two miles start of their pursuers, and, had evening been at hand, they would have understood the importance of keeping ahead until darkness came on to cover their trail; but, with the whole day before them, they felt that they must be overtaken sooner or later, and they could not see the object of exhausting their strength before the struggle began.
As they ran on, at a somewhat slower pace now, an idea as to their leader's intention dawned upon most of the scouts, who saw, by the direction they were taking, that they would again strike the lake shore near the French fort.

Nat, who, light and wiry, was running easily, while many of his comrades were panting with their exertions, was now by the side of James Walsham.
"Give me your rifle, lad, for a bit.

You are new to this work, and the weight of the gun takes it out of you.

We have got another nine or ten miles before us, yet." "I can hold on for a bit," James replied.

"I am getting my wind better, now; but why only ten miles?
We must be seventy away from the fort." "We should never get there," Nat said.