"Has the time come ?" "I have no certain means of knowing; but it cannot be far from the hour, and we shall be much safer without." I took the Indian's knife with me, wiping the long blade upon the pile of skins, and placing it convenient to my hand within the bosom of my hunting-shirt.

It was dark enough back of the lodge away from the glare of the fires, and we rested there well within the shadow, for some time, while I scanned the surroundings and planned as best I might our future movements.
"Was it from dread of venturing once more upon the water that you held back so long ?" I asked her, seeking rudely to delve into the secret of her reserve.
"Have you ever found me of cowardly heart, Monsieur ?" she questioned in return, parrying with quick skill, "that you should think any bodily terror could hold me back?
If I had reasons other than those already given, they were worthy ones." "You are not afraid of the perils before us ?" "No," she answered; "my heart beats fast, but 't is not from fear." Only a few scattered lodges had been raised to the eastward of where we were, nor did these show any signs of life.

We crept forward with painful slowness, partially hiding our movements by following a shallow, curving gully, until we had gained the extreme limits of the encampment, where we crawled out into the gloom of the surrounding prairie.

Not until then did either of us venture to stand erect, or advance with any degree of freedom.
Directly ahead of us there was nothing by which I could safely guide our course.

The flat sameness of the plain offered no landmarks, while the night sky was so thickly overcast as to leave no stars visible.
Nor was there light of any kind, save that of the fires in the camp we had just left.