inherited great estates on the James and they shipped their
tobacco in their own vessels to London, and detecting in Robert a
somewhat kindred spirit they had received him with great friendliness.
Already they were old acquaintances in feeling, if not in time.

"Lennox, listen to this vain boaster!" exclaimed Cabell. "He has a
good horse, I admit, but his spirit has become unduly inflated about
it. You know, don't you, Lennox, that my colt, Cressy, has all
Virginia beaten in speed?"

"You know nothing of the kind, Lennox!" exclaimed Stuart, "but you do
know that my three year old Blenheim is the swiftest horse ever bred
in the colony. Now, don't you?"

"I can't give an affirmative to either of you," laughed Robert, "as
I've never seen your horses, but this I do say, I shall be very glad
to see the test and let the colts decide it for themselves."

"A just decision, O Judge!" said Stuart. "You shall have an honored
place as a guest when the match is run. What say you to tomorrow
morning at ten, James?"

"A fit hour, Walter. You ride Blenheim yourself, of course?"

"Truly, and you take the mount on Cressy?"

"None other shall ride him. I've black boys cunning with horses, but
since it's horse against horse it should also be master against
master."

"A match well made, and 'twill be a glorious contest. Come, Lennox,
you shall be a judge, and so shall be your friend Willet, and so shall
that splendid Indian, Tayoga."

Robert was delighted. He had thrown himself with his whole soul into
the Virginia life, and he was eager to see the race run. So were all
the others, and even the grave eyes of Tayoga sparkled when he heard
of it.

It was broad daylight when he went to bed, but he was up at noon, and
in the afternoon he went to the House of Burgesses to hear the
governor make a speech to the members on the war and its emergencies.
Dinwiddie, like Shirley, the governor of Massachusetts, appreciated
the extreme gravity of the crisis, and his address was solemn and
weighty.

He told them that the shadow in the north was black and menacing. The
French were an ambitious people, brave, tenacious and skillful. They
had won the friendship of the savages and now they dominated the
wilderness. They would strike heavy blows, but their movements were
enveloped in mystery, and none knew where or when the sword would
fall. The spirit animating them flowed from the haughty and powerful
court at Versailles that aimed at univers