The Hunters of the Hills Page 16

  CHAPTER XIV

  ON CHAMPLAIN

  The three arrived at the Richelieu without further hostile encounter,but they met a white forest runner who told them the aspect of affairsin the Ohio country was growing more threatening. A small force fromVirginia was starting there under a young officer named Washington, andit was reported that the French from Canada in numbers were already inthe disputed country.

  "We know what we know," said Willet thoughtfully. "I've never doubtedthat English and French would come into conflict in the woods, and if Ihad felt any such doubts, our visit to Quebec would have driven themaway. I don't think our letters from the Governor of New York to theGovernor General of Canada will be of any avail."

  "No," said Robert, soberly. "They won't. But I want to say to you, Dave,that I'm full of gladness, because we've reached our canoe. Our packswithout increasing in size are at least twice as heavy as they were whenwe started."

  "I can join you in your hosannas, Robert. Never before did a canoe lookso fine to me. It's a big canoe, a beautiful canoe, a strong canoe, aswift canoe, and it's going to carry us in comfort and far."

  It was, in truth, larger than the one they had used coming up thelakes, and, with a mighty sigh of satisfaction, Robert settled into hisplace. Their packs, rifles, swords and the case containing Tayoga's bowand arrows were adjusted delicately, and then, with a few sweeps of theOnondaga's paddle, they shot out into the slow current of the river.Robert and Willet leaned back and luxuriated. Tayoga wanted to do thework at present, saying that his wrists, in particular, needed exercise,and they willingly let him. They were moving against the stream, but sogreat was the Onondaga's dexterity that he sent the canoe along at agood pace without feeling weariness.

  "It's like old times," said Willet. "There's no true happiness likebeing in a canoe on good water, with the strong arm of another to paddlefor you. I'm glad you winged that savage, Tandakora, Tayoga. It wouldspoil my pleasure to know that he was hanging on our trail."

  "Don't be too happy, Great Bear," said Tayoga. "Within a week theOjibway will be hunting for us. Maybe he will be lying in wait on theshores of the great lake, Champlain."

  "If so, Tayoga, you must have him to feel the kiss of another arrow."

  Tayoga smiled and looked affectionately at his bow and quiver.

  "The Iroquois shaft can still be of use," he said, "and we will save ourammunition, because the way is yet far."

  "Deer shouldn't be hard to find in these woods," said Willet, "and whenwe stop for the night we'll hunt one."

  They took turns with the paddle, and now and then, drawing in underoverhanging boughs, rested a little. Once or twice they saw distantsmoke which they believed was made by Canadian and therefore hostileIndians, but they did not pause to investigate. It was their desire tomake speed, because they wished to reach as quickly as they could theLong House in the vale of the Onondaga. It was still possible to arrivethere before St. Luc should go away, because he would have to wait untilthe fifty sachems chose to go in council and hear him.

  On this, their return journey, Robert thought much of the chevalier andwas eager to see him again. Of all the Frenchmen he had met St. Lucinterested him most. De Galisonniere was gallant and honest andtruthful, a good friend, but he did not convey the same impression offoresight and power that the chevalier had made upon him, and there wasalso another motive, underlying but strong. He wished to match himselfin oratory before the fifty chiefs with Duquesne's agent. He wasconfident of his gifts, discovered so recently, and he knew the road tothe mind and hearts of the Iroquois.

  "What are you thinking so hard about, Robert?" asked Willet.

  "Of St. Luc. I think we'll meet him in the vale of Onondaga. Do you everfeel that you can look into the future, Dave?"

  "Just what do you mean?"

  "Nothing supernatural. Don't the circumstances and conditions sometimesmake you think that events are going to run in a certain channel? At thevery first glance the Chevalier de St. Luc interested me uncommonly, andeven in our exciting days in Quebec I thought of him. Now I have avision about him. His life and mine are going to cross many times."

  The hunter looked sharply at the lad.

  "That's a queer idea of yours, Robert," he said, "but when you think itover it's not so queer, after all. It seems to be the rule that queerthings should come about."

  "Now I don't understand you, Dave."

  "Well, maybe I don't quite understand myself. But I know one thing,Robert. St. Luc is always going to put you on your mettle, and you'llalways appear at your best before him."

  "That's the way I feel about it, Dave. He aroused in me an odd mixtureof emotions, both emulation and defiance."

  "Perhaps it's not so odd after all," said Willet.

  Robert could not induce him to pursue the subject. He shied away fromSt. Luc, and talked about the more immediate part of their journey,recalling the necessity of finding another deer, as their supplies offood were falling very low. Just before sunset they drew into the mouthof a large creek and made the canoe fast. Tayoga, taking bow and quiver,went into the woods for his deer, and within an hour found him. Thenthey built a small fire sheltered well by thickets, and cooked supper.

  The Onondaga reported game abundant, especially the smaller varieties,and remarkably tame, inferring from the fact that no hunting parties hadbeen in the region for quite a while.

  "We're almost in the country of the Hodenosaunee," he said, "but thewarriors have not been here. All of the outlying bands have gone backtoward Canada or westward into the Ohio country. This portion of theland is deserted."

  "Still, it's well to be careful, Tayoga," said the hunter. "That savage,Tandakora, is going to make it the business of his life to hunt ourscalps, and if there's to be a great war I don't want to fall justbefore it begins."

  That night they dressed as much of their deer as they could carry, andthe next day they passed into Lake Champlain, which displayed all of itsfinest colors, as if it had been made ready especially to receive them.Its waters showed blue and green and silver as the skies above themshifted and changed, and both to east and west the high mountains wereclothed in dark green foliage. Robert's eyes kindled at the sight ofnature's great handiwork, the magnificent lake more than a hundred mileslong, and the great scenery in which it was placed. It had its story andlegend too. Already it was famous in the history of the land and forunbroken generations the Indians had used it as their road between northand south. It was both the pathway of peace and the pathway of war, andRobert foresaw that hostile forces would soon be passing upon it again.

  They saw the distant smoke once more, and kept close to the westernshore where they were in the shadow of the wooded heights, their canoebut a mote upon the surface of the water. In so small a vessel andalmost level with its waves, they saw the lake as one cannot see it fromabove, its splendid expanse stretching away from north to south, untilit sank under the horizon, while the Green Mountains on the east and thegreat ranges of New York on the west seemed to pierce the skies.

  "It's our lake," said Robert, "whatever happens we can't give it up tothe French, or at least we'll divide it with the Hodenosaunee who canclaim the western shore. If we were to lose this lake no matter whathappened elsewhere I should think we had lost the war."

  "We don't hold Champlain yet," said the hunter soberly. "The Frenchclaim it, and it's even called after the first of their governors underthe Company of One Hundred Associates, Samuel de Champlain. They've putupon it as a sign a name which we English and Americans ourselves haveaccepted, and they come nearer to controlling it than we do. They'readvancing, too, Robert, to the lake that they call Saint Sacrement, andthat we call George. When it comes to battle they'll have the advantageof occupation."

  "It seems so, but we'll drive 'em out," said Robert hopefully.

  "But while we talk of the future," said Tayoga in his measured andscholastic English, "it would be well for us also to be watchful in thepresent. The French and their Indians may be upon the lake,
and we arebut three in a canoe."

  "Justly spoken," said Willet heartily. "We can always trust you, Tayoga,to bring us back to the needs of the moment. Robert, you've uncommonlygood eyes. Just you look to the north and to south with all your might,and see if you can see any of their long canoes."

  "I don't see a single dot upon the water, Dave," said the youth, "but Inotice something else I don't like."

  "What is it, Robert?"

  "Several little dark clouds hanging around the crests of the highmountains to the west. Small though they are, they've grown somewhatsince I noticed them first."

  "I don't like that either, Robert. It may mean a storm, and the lakebeing so narrow the winds have sudden and great violence. But meanwhile,I suppose it's best for us to make as much speed southward as we can."

  Tayoga alone was paddling them, but the other two fell to work also, andthe canoe shot forward, Robert looking up anxiously now and then at theclouds hovering over the lofty peaks. He noticed that they were stillincreasing and that now they fused together. Then all the crests werelost in the great masses of vapor which crept far down the slopes. Theblue sky over their heads turned to gray with amazing rapidity. The airgrew heavy and damp. Thunder, low and then loud, rolled among thewestern mountains. Lightning blazed in dazzling flashes across the lake,showing the waters yellow or blood red in the glare. The forest moanedand rocked, and with a scream and a roar the wind struck the lake.

  The water, in an instant, broke into great waves, and the canoe rockedso violently that it would have overturned at once had not the threepossessed such skill with the paddle. Even then the escape was narrow,and their strength was strained to the utmost.

  "We must land somewhere!" exclaimed Willet, looking up at the loftyshore.

  But where? The cliff was so steep that they saw no chance to pull upthemselves and the canoe, and, keeping as close to it as they dared,they steadied the frail vessel with their paddles. The wind continuallyincreased in violence, whistling and screaming, and at times assuming analmost circular motion, whipping the waters of the lake into white foam.Day turned to night, save when the blazing flashes of lightning cut thedarkness. The thunder roared like artillery.

  Willet hastily covered the ammunition and packs with their blankets, andcontinued to search anxiously for a place where they might land.

  "The rain will be here presently," he shouted, "and it'll be so heavyit'll come near to swamping us if we don't get to shelter first! Paddle,lads! paddle!"

  The three, using all their strength and dexterity, sent the canoeswiftly southward, still hugging the shore, but rocking violently. Aftera few anxious minutes, Robert uttered a shout of joy as he saw by thelightning's flash a cove directly ahead of them with shores at a fairslope. They sent the canoe into it with powerful strokes, sprang uponthe bank, and then drew their little craft after them. Selecting a spotsheltered on the west by the lofty shore and on either side to a certainextent by dense woods, they turned the canoe over, resting the edgesupon fallen logs which they pulled hastily into place, and crouchedunder it. They considered themselves especially lucky in finding thelogs, and now they awaited the rain that they had dreaded.

  It came soon in a mighty sweep, roaring through the woods, and burstupon them in floods. But the canoe, the logs and the forest and theslope together protected them fairly well, and the contrast even gave acertain degree of comfort, as the rain beat heavily and then rushed intorrents down to the lake.

  "We made it just in time," said Willet. "If we had stayed on the water Ithink we'd have been swamped. Look how high the waves are and how fastthey run!"

  Robert as he gazed at the stormy waters was truly thankful.

  "We have many dangers," he said, "but somehow we seem to escape themall."

  "We dodge 'em," said Willet, "because we make ready for 'em. It's thosewho think ahead who inherit the world, Robert."

  The storm lasted an hour. Then the rain ceased abruptly. The wind died,the darkness fled away and the lake and earth, washed and cleansed anew,returned to their old peace and beauty, only the skies seemed softer andbluer, and the colors of the water more varied and intense.

  They launched the canoe and resumed their journey to the south, butwhen they had gone a few hundred yards Robert observed a black dotbehind them on the lake. Willet and Tayoga at once pronounced it a greatIndian canoe, containing a dozen warriors at least.

  "Canadian Indians, beyond a doubt," said Tayoga, "and our enemies.Perhaps Tandakora is among them."

  "Whether he is or not," said Willet, "they've seen us and are inpursuit. I suppose they stayed in another cove back of us while thestorm passed. It's one case where our foresight couldn't guard againstbad luck."

  He spoke anxiously and looked up at the overhanging forest. But therewas no convenient cove now, and it was not possible for them to beachthe canoe and take flight on land. A new danger and a great one hadappeared suddenly. The long canoe, driven by a dozen powerful paddles,was approaching fast.

  "Hurons, I think," said Tayoga.

  "Most likely," said the hunter, "but whether Hurons or not they're nofriends of ours, and there's hot work with the paddles before us.They're at least four rifleshots away and we have a chance."

  Now the three used their paddles as only those can who have life atstake. Their light canoe leaped suddenly forward, and seemed fairly toskim over the water like some great aquatic bird, but the larger craftbehind them gained steadily though slowly. Three pairs of arms, nomatter how strong or expert, are no match for twelve, and the hunterfrowned as he glanced back now and then.

  "Only three rifleshots now," he muttered, "and before long it will bebut two. But we have better weapons than theirs, and ours can speakfast. Easy now, lads! We mustn't wear ourselves out!"

  Robert made his strokes slower. The perspiration was standing on hisface, and his breath was growing painful, but he remembered in time theexcellence of Willet's advice. The gain of the long canoe increased morerapidly, but the three were accumulating strength for a great spurt. Thepursuit and flight, hitherto, had been made in silence, but now theHurons, for such their paint proved them to be, uttered a long warwhoop, full of anticipation and triumph, a cry saying plainly that theyexpected to have three good scalps soon. It made Robert's pulse leapwith anger.

  "They haven't taken us yet," he said.

  Willet laughed.

  "Don't let 'em make you lose your temper," he said. "No, they haven'ttaken us, and we've escaped before from such places just as tight. Theymake faster time than we can, Robert, but our three rifles here willhave a word or two to say."

  After the single war whoop the warriors relapsed into silence and pliedtheir paddles, sure now of their prey. They were experts themselves andtheir paddles swept the water in perfect unison, while the long canoegradually cut down the distance between it and the little craft ahead.

  "Two rifle shots," said the hunter, "and when it becomes one, as itsurely will, I'll have to give 'em a hint with a bullet."

  "It's possible,"' said Robert, "that a third power will intervene."

  "What do you mean?" asked Willet.

  "The storm's coming back. Look up!"

  It was true. The sky was darkening again, and the clouds were gatheringfast over the mountains on the west. Already lightning was quiveringalong the slopes, and the forest was beginning to rock with the wind.The air rapidly grew heavier and darker. Their own canoe was quivering,and Robert saw that the long canoe was rising and falling with thewaves.

  "Looks as if it might be a question of skill with the paddles ratherthan with the rifles," said Willet tersely.

  "But they are still gaining," said Tayoga, "even though the water is sorough."

  "Aye," said Willet, "and unless the storm bursts in full power they'llsoon be within rifle shot."

  He watched with occasional keen backward looks, and in a few minutes hesnatched up his rifle, took a quick aim and fired. The foremost man inthe long canoe threw up his arms, and fell sideways into the water. Thecan
oe stopped entirely for a moment or two, but then the others,uttering a long, fierce yell of rage, bent to their paddles with arenewed effort. The three had made a considerable gain during theirtemporary check, but it could not last long. Willet again looked for achance to land, but the cliffs rose above them sheer and impossible.

  "We are in the hands of Manitou," said Tayoga, gravely. "He will saveus. Look, how the storm gathers! Perhaps it was sent back to help us."

  The Onondaga spoke with the utmost earnestness. It was not often that astorm returned so quickly, and accepting the belief that Manitouintervened in the affairs of earth, he felt that the second convulsionof nature was for their benefit. Owing to the great roughness of thewater their speed now decreased, but not more than that of the longcanoe, the rising wind compelling them to use their paddles mostly forsteadiness. The spray was driven like sleet in their faces, and theywere soon wet through and through, but they covered the rifles andammunition with their blankets, knowing that when the storm passed theywould be helpless unless they were kept dry.

  The Hurons fired a few shots, all of which fell short or wide, and thensettled down with all their numbers to the management of their canoe,which was tossing dangerously. Robert noticed their figures were growingdim, and then, as the storm struck with full violence for the secondtime, the darkness came down and hid them.

  "Now," shouted Willet, as the wind whistled and screamed in their ears,"we'll make for the middle of the lake!"

  Relying upon their surpassing skill with the paddle, they chose a mostdangerous course, so far as the risk of wreck was concerned, but theyintended that the long canoe should pass them in the dusk, and then theywould land in the rear. The waves were higher as they went toward thecenter of the lake, but they were in no danger of being dashed againstthe cliffs, and superb work with the paddles kept them from beingswamped. Luckily the darkness endured, and, as they were able to catchthrough it no glimpse of the long canoe, they had the certainty of beinginvisible themselves.

  "Why not go all the way across to the eastern shore?" shouted Robert."We may find anchorage there, and we'd be safe from both the Hurons andthe storm!"

  "Dagaeoga is right," said Tayoga.

  "Well spoken!" said Willet. "Do the best work you ever did with thepaddles, or we'll find the bottom of the lake instead of the easternshore!"

  But skill, strength and quickness of eye carried them in safety acrossthe lake, and they found a shore of sufficient slope for them to landand lift the canoe after them, carrying it back at least half a mile,and not coming to rest until they reached the crest of a high hill,wooded densely. They put the canoe there among the bushes and sank downbehind it, exhausted. The rifles and precious ammunition, wrappedtightly in the folds of their blankets, had been kept dry, but they werewet to the bone themselves and now, that their muscles were relaxed, thecold struck in. The three, despite their weariness, began to exerciseagain vigorously, and kept it up until the rain ceased.

  Then the second storm stopped as suddenly as the first had departed, thedarkness went away, and the great lake stood out, blue and magnificent,in the light. Far to the south moved the long canoe, a mere black dotin the water. Tayoga laughed in his throat.

  "They rage and seek us in vain," he said. "They will continue pursuingus to the south. They do not know that Manitou sent the second stormespecially to cover us up with a darkness in which we might escape."

  "It's a good belief, Tayoga," said Willet, "and as Manitou arranged thatwe should elude them he is not likely to bring them back into our path.That being the case I'm going to dry my clothes."

  "So will I," said Robert, and the Onondaga nodded his own concurrence.They took off their garments, wrung the water out of them and hung themon the bushes to dry, a task soon to be accomplished by the sun that nowcame out hot and bright. Meanwhile they debated their further course.

  "The long canoe still goes south," said Tayoga. "It is now many milesaway, hunting for us. Perhaps since they cannot find us, the Hurons willconclude that the storm sank us in the lake!"

  "But they will hunt along the shore a long time," said Willet. "They'renothing but a tiny speck now, and in a quarter of an hour they'll be outof sight altogether. Suppose we cross the lake behind them--I think Isee a cove down there on the western side--take the canoe with us andwait until they go back again."

  "A wise plan," said Tayoga.

  In another hour their deerskins were dry, and reclothing themselves theyreturned the canoe to the lake, the Hurons still being invisible. Thenthey crossed in haste, reached the cove that Willet had seen, andplunged into the deep woods, taking the canoe with them, and hidingtheir trail carefully. When they had gone a full three miles they cameto rest in a glade, and every one of the three felt that it was time.Muscles and nerves alike were exhausted, and they remained there all therest of the day and the following night, except that after dark Tayogawent back to the lake and saw the long canoe going northward.

  "I don't think we'll be troubled by that band of Hurons any more," hereported to his comrades. "They will surely think we have been drowned,and tomorrow we can continue our own journey to the south."

  "And on the whole, we've come out of it pretty well," said Willet.

  "With the aid of Manitou, who so generously sent us the second storm,"said Tayoga.

  They brought the canoe back to the lake at dawn, and hugging the westernshore made leisurely speed to the south, until they came to theneighborhood of the French works at Carillon, when they landed againwith their canoe, and after a long and exhausting portage launchedthemselves anew on the smaller but more splendid lake, known to theEnglish as George and to the French as Saint Sacrement. Now, though,they traveled by night and slept and rested by day. But Lake George inthe moonlight was grand and beautiful beyond compare. Its waters weredusky silver as the beams poured in floods upon it, and the loftyshores, in their covering of dark green, seemed to hold up the skies.

  "It's a grand land," said Robert for the hundredth time.

  "It is so," said Tayoga. "After Manitou had practiced on many othercountries he used all his wisdom and skill to make the country of theHodenosaunee."

  The next morning when they lay on the shore they saw two French boats onthe lake, and Robert was confirmed in his opinion that the prevision ofthe French leaders would enable them to strike the first blow. Alreadytheir armed forces were far down in the debatable country, and theycontrolled the ancient water route between the British colonies andCanada.

  On the second night they left the lake, hid the canoe among the bushesat the edge of a creek, and began the journey by land to the vale ofOnondaga. It was likely that in ordinary times they would have made itwithout event, but they felt now the great need of caution, since thewoods might be full of warriors of the hostile tribes. They were sure,too, that Tandakora would find their trail and that he would notrelinquish the pursuit until they were near the villages of theHodenosaunee. The trail might be hidden from the Ojibway alone, butsince many war parties of their foes were in the woods he would learn ofit from some of them. So they followed the plan they had used on thelake of traveling by night and of lying in the bush by day.

  Another deer fell to Tayoga's deadly arrow, and on the third day as theywere concealed in dense forest they saw smoke on a high hill, rising inrings, as if a blanket were passed rapidly over a fire and back againin a steady alternation.

  "Can you read what they say, Tayoga?" asked Willet.

  "No," replied the Onondaga. "They are strange to me, and so it cannot beany talk of the Hodenosaunee. Ah, look to the west! See, on anotherhill, two miles away, rings of smoke also are rising!"

  "Which means that two bands of French Indians are talking to each other,Tayoga?"

  "It is so, Great Bear, and here within the lands of the Hodenosaunee!Perhaps Frenchmen are with them, Frenchmen from Carillon or some otherpost that Onontio has pushed far to the south."

  The young Onondaga spoke with deep resentment. The sight of the twosmokes made by the fo
es of the Hodenosaunee filled him with anger, andWillet, who observed his face, easily read his mind from it.

  "You would like to see more of the warriors who are making thosesignals," he said. "Well, I don't blame you for your curiosity andperhaps it would be wise for us to take a look. Suppose we stalk thefirst fire."

  Tayoga nodded, and the three, although hampered somewhat by their packs,began a slow approach through the bushes. Half the distance, and Tayoga,who was in advance, putting his finger upon his lips, sank almost flat.

  "What is it, Tayoga?" whispered Willet.

  "Someone else stalking them too. On the right. I heard a bush move."

  Both Willet and Robert heard it also as they waited, and used as theywere to the forest they knew that it was made by a human being.

  "What's your opinion, Tayoga?" asked the hunter.

  "A warrior or warriors of the Hodenosaunee, seeking, as we are, to seethose who are sending up the rings of smoke," replied the Onondaga.

  "If you're right they're likely to be Mohawks, the Keepers of theEastern Gate."

  Tayoga nodded.

  "Let us see," he said.

  Putting his fingers to his lips, he blew between them a note soft andlow but penetrating. A half minute, and a note exactly similar came froma point in the dense bush about a hundred yards away. Then Tayoga blew ashorter note, and as before the reply came, precisely like it.

  "It is the Ganeagaono," said Tayoga with certainty, "and we will awaitthem here."

  The three remained motionless and silent, but in a few minutes thebushes before them shook, and four tall figures, rising to their fullheight, stood in plain view. They were Mohawk warriors, all young,powerful and with fierce and lofty features. The youngest and tallest, aman with the high bearing of a forest chieftain, said:

  "We meet at a good time, O Tayoga, of the clan of the Bear, of thenation Onondaga, of the great League of the Hodenosaunee."

  "It is so, O Daganoweda, of the clan of the Turtle, of the nationGaneagaono, of the great League of the Hodenosaunee," replied Tayoga."I see that my brethren, the Keepers of the Eastern Gate, watch when thesavage tribes come within their territory."

  The brows of the young Mohawk contracted into a frown.

  "Most of our warriors are on the great trail to the vale of Onondaga,"he said. "We are but four, and, though we are only four, we intended toattack. The smoke nearer by is made by Hurons and Caughnawagas."

  "You are more than four, you are seven," said Tayoga.

  Daganoweda understood, and smiled fiercely and proudly.

  "You have spoken well, Tayoga," he said, "but you have spoken as Iexpected you to speak. Onundagaono and Ganeagaono be the first nationsof the Hodenosaunee and they never fail each other. We are seven and weare enough."

  He took it for granted that Tayoga spoke as truly for the two white menas for himself, and Robert and the hunter felt themselves committed.Moreover their debt to the Onondaga was so great that they could notabandon him, and they knew he would go with the Mohawks. It would alsobe good policy to share their enterprise and their danger.

  "We'll support you to the end of it," said Willet quietly.

  "The English have always been the friends of the Hodenosaunee," saidDaganoweda, as he led the way through the undergrowth toward the pointfrom which the smoke come. Neither Robert nor Willet felt any scrupleabout attacking the warriors there, as they were clearly invaders withhostile purpose of Mohawk territory, and it was also more than likelythat their immediate object was the destruction of the three. Yet thetwo Americans held back a little, letting the Indians take the lead, notwishing it to be said that they began the battle.

  Daganoweda, whose name meant "Inexhaustible," was a most competent youngchief. He spread out his little force in a half circle, and the sevenrapidly approached the fire. But Robert was glad when a stick brokeunder the foot of an incautious and eager warrior, and the Hurons andCaughnawagas, turning in alarm, fired several bullets into the bushes.He was glad, because it was the other side that began the combat, and ifthere was a Frenchman with them he could not go to Montreal or Quebec,saying the British and their Indians had fired the first shot.

  All of the bullets flew wide, and Daganoweda's band took to cover atonce, waiting at least five minutes before they obtained a single shotat a brown body. Then all the usual incidents of a forest strugglefollowed, the slow creeping, the occasional shot, a shout of triumph orthe death yell, but the Hurons and Caughnawagas, who were about a dozenin number, were routed and took to flight in the woods, leaving three oftheir number fallen. Two of the Mohawks were wounded but not severely.Tayoga, who was examining the trail, suddenly raised his head and said:

  "Tandakora has been here. There is none other who wears so large amoccasin. Here go his footsteps! and here! and here!"

  "Doubtless they thought we were near, and were arranging with the otherband to trap us," said Willet. "Daganoweda, it seems that you and yourMohawks came just in time. Are the smoke rings from the second firestill rising? We were too far away for them to hear our rifles."

  "Only one or two rings go up now," replied Tayoga. "Since they havereceived no answer in a long time they wonder what has happened. See howthose two rings wander away and dissolve in the air, as if they wereuseless, and now no more follow."

  "But the warriors may come here to see what is the matter, and we oughtto be ready for them."

  Daganoweda, to whom they readily gave the place of leader, since byright it was his, saw at once the soundness of the hunter's advice, andthey made an ambush. The second band, which was about the size of thefirst, approached cautiously, and after a short combat retired swiftlywith two wounded warriors, evidently thinking the enemy was in greatforce, and leaving the young Mohawk chieftain in complete possession ofhis victorious field.

  "Tayoga, and you, Great Bear, I thank you," said Daganoweda. "Withoutyour aid we could never have overcome our enemies."

  "We were glad to do what we could," said Willet sincerely, "since, as Isee it, your cause and ours are the same."

  Tayoga was examining the fleeing trail of the second band as he hadexamined that of the first, and he beckoned to his white comrades and toDaganoweda.

  "Frenchmen were here," he said. "See the trail. They wore moccasins, buttheir toes turn out in the white man's fashion."

  There was no mistaking the traces, and Robert felt intense satisfaction.If hostile Indians, led by Frenchmen, were invading the territory of theHodenosaunee, then it would be very hard indeed for Duquesne and Bigotto break up the ancient alliance of the great League with the English.But he was quite sure that no one of the flying Frenchmen was St. Luc.The chevalier was too wise to be caught in such a trap, nor would helend himself to the savage purposes of Tandakora.

  "Behold, Daganoweda," he said, "the sort of friends the French would beto the Hodenosaunee. When the great warriors of the Six Nations go tothe vale of Onondaga to hear what the fifty sachems will say at theircouncil, the treacherous Hurons and Caughnawagas, led by white men fromMontreal and Quebec, come into their land, seeking scalps."

  The power of golden speech was upon him once more. He felt deeply whathe was saying, and he continued, calling attention to the ancientfriendship of the English, and their long and bitter wars with theFrench. He summoned up again the memory of Frontenac, never dead in thehearts of the Mohawks, and as he spoke the eyes of Daganoweda and hiscomrades flashed with angry fire. But he did not continue long. He knewthat at such a time a speech protracted would lose its strength, andwhen the feelings of the Mohawks were stirred to their utmost depths hestopped abruptly and turned away.

  "'Twas well done, lad! 'twas well done!" whispered Willet.

  "Great Bear," said Daganoweda, "we go now to the vale of Onondaga forthe grand council. Perhaps Tayoga, a coming chief of the clan of theBear, of the great nation Onondaga, will go with us."

  "So he will," said Willet, "and so will Robert and myself. We too wishto reach the vale of Onondaga. An uncommonly clever Frenchman, oneChev
alier Raymond de St. Luc, has gone there. He is a fine talker and hewill talk for the French. Our young friend here, whom an old chief ofyour nation has named Dagaeoga, is, as you have heard, a great orator,and he will speak for the English. He will measure himself against theFrenchman, St. Luc, and I think he will be equal to the test."

  The young Mohawk chieftain gave Robert a look of admiration.

  "Dagaeoga can talk against anybody," he said. "He need fear noFrenchman. Have I not heard? And if he can use so many words here in theforest before a few men what can he not do in the vale of Onondagabefore the gathered warriors of the Hodenosaunee? Truly the throat ofDagaeoga can never tire. The words flow from his mouth like water overstones, and like it, flow on forever. It is music like the wind singingamong the leaves. He can talk the anger from the heart of a ragingmoose, or he can talk the otter up from the depths of the river. Greatis the speech of Dagaeoga."

  Robert turned very red. Willet laughed and even Tayoga smiled, althoughthe compliment was thoroughly sincere.

  "You praise me too much, Daganoweda," said young Lennox, "but in a greatcause one must make a great effort."

  "Then come," said the Mohawk chieftain. "We will start at once for thevale of Onondaga."

  They struck the great trail, _waagwenneyu_, and traveled fast. The nextday six Mohawks from their upper castle, Ganegahaga on the Mohawk rivernear the mouth of West Canada Creek, joined them and they continued topress on with speed, entering the heart of the country of theHodenosaunee, Robert feeling anew what a really great land it was, withits green forests, its blue lakes, its silver rivers and its myriad ofcreeks and brooks. Nature had lavished everything upon it, and he didnot wonder that the Iroquois should guard it with such valor, andcherish it with such tenderness. As he sped on with them he wasacquiring for the time at least an Indian soul under a white skin. Longassociation and a flexible mind enabled him to penetrate the thoughts ofthe Iroquois and to think as they did.

  He knew how the word had been passed through the vast forest. He knewthat every warrior, woman and boy of the Hodenosaunee understood how thetwo great powers beyond the sea and their children here, were about togo into battle on the edge of their country. And what must theHodenosaunee do? And he knew, too, that as the Six Nations went so mightgo the war in America. He had seen too much to underrate their valor andstrength, and on that long march his heart was very anxious within him.