"Beyond a doubt," replied Willet. "I can tell the difference between
the note and that of a genuine wolf, but then I've spent many years in
the wilderness, and I had to learn these things in order to live.
They'll send forward scouts, and they'll expect to find you and your
men around the fire, most of you asleep. When they miss you there
they'll try to locate you, and they'll soon trail us to these bushes."
Captain James Colden had his share of pride, and much faith in
himself, but he had nobility of soul, too.
"I believe you implicitly, Mr. Willet," he said. "If it had not been
for you and your friends the enemy would have been upon us when we
expected him not at all, and 'tis most likely that all of us would
have been killed and scalped. So, I thank you now, lest I fall in the
battle, and it be too late then to express my gratitude."
It was a little bit formal, and a little bit youthful, but Willet
accepted the words in the fine spirit in which they were uttered.
"What we did was no more than we should have done," he replied, "and
you'll pay us back. In such times as these everybody ought to help
everybody else. Caution your soldiers, captain, won't you, not to
make any noise at all.
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