"It is I, Robert Lennox," said Robert. "I knew you in New York!" "Aye, Mr. Lennox. I recognize you now. We meet again, after so long a time. I could have preferred the meeting to be elsewhere and under other circumstances, but it is something to know that you are alive." They shook hands with great friendliness and the Frenchmen, who were guarding Charteris, waited patiently. "May our next meeting be under brighter omens," said Robert. "I think it will be," said Charteris confidently. Then he went on. It was a long time before they were to see each other again, and the drama that was to bring them face to face once more was destined to be as thrilling as that at Ticonderoga. The next night came heavy and dark, and Robert, who continued to be treated with singular forbearance, wandered toward Lake Champlain, which lay pale and shadowy under the thick dusk. No one stopped him. The sentinels seemed to have business elsewhere, and suddenly he remembered his old threat to escape. Hope returned to a mind that had been stunned for a time, and it came back vivid and strong. Then hope sank down again, when a figure issued from the dusk, and stood before him. It was St. Luc. "Mr. Lennox," said the Chevalier, "what are you doing here?" "Merely wandering about," replied Robert. "I'm a prisoner, as you know, but no one is bothering about me, which I take to be natural when the echoes of so great a battle have scarcely yet died." St. Luc looked at him keenly and Robert met his gaze. He could not read the eye of the Chevalier. "You have been a prisoner of ours once before, but you escaped," said the Chevalier. "It seems that you are a hard lad to hold." "But then I had the help of the greatest trailer and forest runner in the world, my staunch friend, Tayoga, the Onondaga." "If he rescued you once he will probably try to do it again, and the great hunter, Willet, is likely to be with him. I suppose you were planning a few moments ago to escape along the shore of the lake." "I might have been, but I see now that it is too late." "Too late is a phrase that should be seldom used by youth." Robert tried once again to read the Chevalier's eye, but St. Luc's look contained the old enigma. "I admit," said young Lennox, "that I thought I might find an open place in your line. It was only a possible chance." St. Luc shrugged his shoulders, and looked at the darkness that lay before them like a great black blanket. "There is much yet to be done by us at Ticonderoga," he said. "Perhaps it is true that a possible chance for you to escape does exist, but my duties are too important for me to concern myself about guarding a single prisoner."