"
"In part of your assumption you're right, Will. Tayoga hasn't the
snow shoes now, and he wouldn't use 'em if he had 'em. He foresaw the
possibility of the freeze, and took with him in his pack a pair of
heavy moose skin moccasins with the hair on the outside. They're so
rough they do not slip on the ice, especially when they inclose the
feet of a runner, so wiry, so agile and so experienced as Tayoga. Once
more I close my eyes and I see his brown figure shooting through the
white forest. He goes even faster than he did when he had on the snow
shoes, because whenever he comes to a slope he throws himself back
upon his heels and lets himself slide down the ice almost at the speed
of a bird darting through the air."
"If you're right, Lennox, your red friend is not merely a marvel, but
a series of marvels."
"I'm right, Will. I do not doubt it. At the conclusion of the tenth
day when Tayoga arrives on the return from the vale of Onondaga you
will gladly admit the truth."
"There can be no doubt about my gladness, Lennox, if it should come
true, but the elements seem to have conspired against him, and I've
learned that in the wilderness the elements count very heavily.
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