Without so much as answering, I ran silently in my moccasins to the spot where I had left Ol' Tom Burns. He sat upon his stump, motionless, apparently without the slightest interest in anything going on about him. "Ol' Kinzie was gol-dern polite ter ye, sonny," he commented. "Reckon if an Injun was a scalpin' me right on his front doorstep he'd never hev asked me ter walk inside like that! He an' me sorter drew on each other 'bout a year ago, down at Lee's shebang; an' he don't 'pear ter fergit 'bout it." "Show me the nearest safe passage to the Fort," I said, interrupting him, almost rudely. He got up slowly, and cast his eyes with deliberation southward. "Oh, thar ain't no sich special hurry, I reckon," he answered with an exasperating drawl. "We'll be thar long afore daylight,--perviding allers we don't hit no Injuns meantime,--an' the slower we travel the less chance thar is o' thet." "But, friend Burns," I urged, "it is a racing matter. I must reach there in advance of another man, who has already been here ahead of me." "Sol sorter reckoned from what I heerd; but ye needn't rip the shirt off ye on thet account. The feller can't git in thar till after daylight, nohow. Them sojers is too blame skeered ter open the gates in the dark, an' all the critter'll git if he tries it will be a volley o' lead; so ye might just as well take it easylike." The old man's philosophy seemed sound. De Croix would certainly not gain admittance until he could make himself known to the guard, and, carefully as the stockade was now patrolled, it was hardly probable he would be permitted to approach close enough for identification during the night. De Croix was no frontiersman, and was reckless to a degree; yet his long training as a soldier would certainly teach him a measure of caution in approaching a guarded fort at such a time. "Tis doubtless true," I admitted, "yet I shall feel safer if we push on at once." "Ye called the feller De Croix, didn't ye?" he asked. "Is it the French dandy as was at Hawkins's?" "Yes," I answered, "and I guess you don't care much to help _him_." Burns wasted no breath in reply, but moved forward with noiseless step. Glancing back, I could clearly perceive Kinzie framed in the light of his open door. The vivacious French lass stood beside him, peering curiously out across his broad shoulders. Then we sank into the blackness of the ravine, and everything was blotted from our sight.