It is possible, by thus passing from branch to branch, to travel leagues together without touching the ground. It was exactly thus, only for another cause, that our hunters acted at this moment. They advanced in this fashion before their enemies, who drew nearer and nearer, and they soon perceived them under them, marching in Indian file, that is to say, one behind another, and following their track attentively. Eagle Head came first, half lying upon his horse, on account of his wound, but more animated than ever in pursuit of his enemies. When the Comanches passed them, the two trappers gathered themselves up among the leaves, holding their breath. The most trifling circumstance would have sufficed to proclaim their presence. The Indians passed without seeing them. The hunters resumed their leafy march. "Ouf!" said Belhumeur, at the end of a minute. "I think we have got rid of them this time!" "Do not cry before you are out of the wood, but let us get on as fast as we can; these demons of redskins are cunning, they will not long be the dupes of our stratagem." "_Sacrebleu!_" the Canadian suddenly exclaimed, "I have let my knife fall, I don't know where; if these devils find it, we are lost." "Most likely," Loyal Heart murmured; "the greater reason then for not losing a single minute." In the meantime, the forest, which till then had been calm, began all at once to grow excited, the birds flew about uttering cries of terror, and in the thick underwood they could hear the dry branches crack under the hurried footfalls of the wild animals. "What's going on now?" said Loyal Heart, stopping, and looking round him with uneasiness; "the forest appears to be turned topsy-turvey!" The hunters sprang up to the top of the tree in which they were, and which happened to be one of the loftiest in the forest. An immense light tinged the horizon at about a league from the spot where they were; this light increased every minute, and advanced towards them with giant strides. "Curses on them!" cried Belhumeur, "the Comanches have fired the prairie!" "Yes, and I believe this time that, as you said just now, we are lost," Loyal Heart replied coolly. "What's to be done?" said the Canadian, "in an instant we shall be surrounded." Loyal Heart reflected seriously. At the end of a few seconds he raised his head, and a smile of triumph curled the corners of his mouth. "They have not got us yet," he replied; "follow me, my brother;" and he added in a low voice, "I must see my mother again!" CHAPTER VI. THE PRESERVER. In order to make the reader comprehend the position of the hunters, it is necessary to return to the Comanche chief.