ohawks were loyal--they kept their promise, and
Onontio has not forgotten; he will not forget.

"This is what the Great Mountain would say to you, my brothers: You
have been faithful to your word, and he is pleased. He knows that the
Onondagas are his children. And he knows why the Senecas left their
villages and fields to plunder his white children. It was for the
skins of the beaver, which the white braves had taken from their own
forests and would bring in their canoes down the Ottawa to trade at
the white man's villages. He knows, my brothers, that the Senecas had
tired of their promises, and now would steal the beaver and sell it to
the English. What comes to the boy when he climbs the tree to steal
the honey which the bees have gathered and taken to their home? Is he
not stung and bitten until he cries that he will not disturb the bees
again? The Senecas have tried to take that which is to the white man
as the honey is to the bee; and they too must be stung and bitten
until they have learned that the Great Mountain will always protect
those who deserve his aid. He has sent you a comb from the shell of
the great sea-tortoise, more precious than a thousand wampum shells,
to tell you that as the sea-monster pursues its enemies, so will he
pursue those who cannot keep their promises--who lie to him."

Father Claude handed him the comb, and he laid it before the Big
Throat. It was evident that he had been closely followed, and he
started on his second word with more vigour.

"Your chiefs have spoken to-day of the storm cloud that has swept down
from the north; your runners have told you that it is not a cloud, but
an army, that has come up the great river and across the lake of
Frontenac to the country of the Senecas. Do my brothers know what a
great army follows their White Father when he sets out to punish his
children? More than twenty score of trained warriors are in this war
party, and every warrior carries a musket; to-night they are marching
on the Seneca villages. They will destroy those villages as a brave
would destroy a nest of hornets in his lodge. Not one lodge will be
left standing, not one stalk of corn.

"The Oneidas and Onondagas and Cayugas talk of their cornfields. But
even the Cayugas need have no fear. For Onontio is a wise and just
father; he punishes only those that offend him. The Senecas have
broken their promises, and the Senecas must be punished, but the other
nations are still the childr