Nearly all the green was gone now, and autumn would soon
come. The forest was full of game, and Willet and Tayoga kept them
well supplied, yet their progress became slower. Those who had been
wounded severely approached the critical stage, and once they stopped
two days until all danger had passed.
Three days later a fierce summer storm burst upon them. Tayoga had
foreseen it, and the whole troop was gathered in the lee of a hill,
with all their ammunition protected by blankets, canvas and the skins
of deer that they had killed. But the young Philadelphians,
unaccustomed to the fury of the elements in the wilderness, looked
upon it with awe.
In the west the lightning blazed and the thunder crashed for a long
time. Often the forest seemed to swim in a red glare, and Robert
himself was forced to shut his eyes before the rapid flashes of
dazzling brightness. Then came a great rushing of wind with a mighty
rain on its edge, and, when the wind died, the rain fell straight down
in torrents more than an hour.
Although they kept their ammunition and other supplies dry the men
themselves were drenched to the bone, but the storm passed more
suddenly than it had come.
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