Presently, beside me came creeping the lithe Mohican, and lay down prone, smooth and golden, and shining like a sleek panther in the sun.

“Is all well guarded, brother?” I whispered.

“Not even a wood-mouse could creep from the swamp unless our warriors see it.”

“And when dark comes?”

“Our ears must be our eyes, Loskiel� . But neither the Cat-People nor the Andastes will venture out of that morass, save only by the trail. And we shall have two watchers on it through the night.”

“There is no other outlet?”

“None, except by the ridge Boyd travels. He blocks that pass with his twenty men.”