"
"There may be something in it, Will. I notice that those who deserve
it least are often the chosen favorites of fortune."
"Which seems to be a hit at your superior officer, but I'll pass it
over, Hugh, as you're always right at heart though often wrong in the
head."
Although the young officers talked much and with apparent lightness,
the troop marched with vigilance now. Willet and Tayoga, and Colden,
who had profited by bitter experience, saw to it. The hunter and the
Onondaga, often assisted by Robert, scouted on the flanks, and three
or four soldiers, who developed rapid skill in the woods, were soon
able to help. But Tayoga and Willet were the main reliance, and they
found no further trace of Indians. Nevertheless the guard was never
relaxed for an instant.
Robert found the march not only pleasant but exhilarating. It
appealed to his imaginative and sensitive mind, which magnified
everything, and made the tints more vivid and brilliant. To him the
forests were larger and grander than they were to the others, and the
rivers were wider and deeper. The hours were more intense, he lived
every second of them, and the future had a scope and brilliancy that
few others would foresee.
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