The men raised a great cheer as we left them; a few more strokes and we were out of sight, alone in the little canoe upon the breast of the great river. We still paddled upon the stream, the Roanoke Manteo called it. Three days had we passed on its breast; only once had we seen a human being besides ourselves, and that a lone Indian, who seeing us approach had made for the shore in haste, and leaving his canoe had plunged into the trees, so that as we passed we only saw the empty canoe as it rocked idly to and fro upon the water. Manteo had grounded our boat upon the beach a few yards from the Indian, and we stepped ashore. "We near the beautiful one," he said. "It is best that the canoe be concealed here, and we should follow them upon the land." Hiding the light canoe under some bushes, so cunningly that when I looked for it a moment later I could discover no trace of it, he made off through the trees, I following, a musketoon upon my shoulder. We trod on in silence, Manteo looking ever for the trail. Evening was beginning to fall, as though some black mantle dropped by the hands of the gods upon the quiet earth. There came to my ears the cawing of a crow, and it seemed to me that the bird was very near us. Manteo in an instant had fallen, without a sound, flat upon his face. "Down," he whispered. "Quick!" I followed his example as quickly as I could, and just in time. For, from the trees in front of me, there stole silently a painted figure; tall, fierce, savage, he strode from the dusk, and after him another, and another, until I had counted fifty warriors, walking in single file, their glaring eyes seemingly fixed upon me, as with bated breath I watched them. They were naked, save for the breech cloth about their loins, their bodies hideously daubed with the juice of wild berries and clay; from their coarse black hair there dangled the feathers of an eagle or hawk. I had seen nothing like this before in all my wanderings. Noiselessly, like a shadow, they faded one by one into the gloom opposite. Long it seemed to me we lay there quietly; finally Manteo arose to his feet. "A party of Cherokees on the war path," he whispered, and we resumed our journey. Searching the ground about us for many minutes the Indian moved, now peering under some stone or leaf, now turning some tuft of grass aside to look beneath it. At last with a low grunt he led off again, striding along at his rapid gait. "How knewest thou that thou wouldst find their trail here?" I asked. The Indian grunted. "Had the Eagle looked closer, he would have seen the mark upon the bank where a canoe had landed," he said. "But how knewest thou that it contained the party whom we seek?" "Their canoe had been broken and the prow had been mended; I saw that it had landed here, for the mark of it was upon the bank."