nearly noon
Captain Colden did not forget to be grateful to Willet for his insistence that the soldiers should always lie low , as the hostile lead , instead of striking , now merely sent a harmless shower upon them . But the fusillade was brief , Robert , in truth , judging that it had been against the commands of St. Luc , who was too wise a leader to wish ammunition to be wasted in random firing . At the advice of Willet , Captain Colden would not let his men reply , restraining their eagerness , and silence soon returned . It was nearly noon now and a huge golden sun shone over the vast wilderness in which two little bands of men fought , mere motes in the limitless sea of green . Robert ate some venison , and drank a little water from the canteen of a friendly soldier . Then his thoughts turned again to Tayoga . The Onondaga was a peerless runner , he had been gone long now , and what would he find at the base of the smoke ?