Several times during these two days he ran the canoe ashore at places that his keen vision noted as having been the landing-places of other canoes. At each of these places he found the ashes and charred sticks that denoted recent camp-fires, and each time after making such a discovery he returned to Rene with a puzzled and thoughtful expression on his face. His companion noticed this, and finally inquired the cause. "What troubles thee, my Has-se?" he asked. "Thy looks betoken a worriment of some kind. May I not share it with thee?" For a few minutes Has-se plied his paddle vigorously and in silence; then he said, more as if thinking aloud than in answer to Rene's question, "Others besides ourselves are in pursuit of my people, and I fear they are enemies." "What is thy reason for thus thinking?" "Because I find that each halting-place of Micco's band has been carefully examined after their departure. I have also found the remains of several small but recent camp-fires on opposite sides of the river from theirs, and around them I find the traces of but two men. One of these men is very large, and he wears moccasins that were never made by my people. I fear they are enemies." "But why should they be enemies?" asked Rene. "May they not be some of thy band left behind like thyself. Or may not one of them be of thy tribe, and the other be one of the guests who attended the Feast of Ripe Corn?" "That is easily answered," replied the young Indian. "If they were friends who for some reason had been left behind, and were now anxious to rejoin those whom they follow, they could have done so long since. Their fires burned at the same time with those of my people, and they have visited Micco's camps before the ashes of his fires grew cold. Besides, in each case their own fires were carefully hidden, so that they could not by any chance be seen by those who were in advance of them." "Who, then, can be following so large a band, and for what purpose? Surely two cannot harm so many." "That I know not, but I fear them to be of the outlawed Seminoles.[1] If so, they are following my people for the purpose of picking up plunder, or of snatching the prize of a scalp--a thing they could only gain by a cowardly attack upon one defenceless, for they dare not seek it in open fight. Or it may be that one of them is he who has conceived a bitter enmity against those who never treated him with aught save kindness, and that he has joined with him another equally base." At this thought Has-se's bright face became clouded, and for some time he remained silent. Finally the silence was again broken by Rene, who asked, "Who are these Seminoles of whom thou dost speak thus contemptuously?"