the tent. Robert saw Braddock as he went in, a middle-aged man of
high color and an obstinate chin. Grosvenor gave him some of the
gossip about the general.

"London has many stories of him," he said. "He has spent most of his
life in the army. He is a gambler, but brave, rough but generous,
irritable, but often very kind. Opposition inflames him, but he likes
zeal and good service. He is very fond of your young Mr. Washington,
who, I hear is much of a man."

The council in the great tent was long and weighty, and well it might
have been, even far beyond the wildest thoughts of any of the
participants. These were the beginnings of events that shook not only
America but Europe for sixty years. In the tent they agreed upon a
great and comprehensive scheme of campaign that had been proposed some
time before. Braddock would proceed with his attack upon Fort
Duquesne, Shirley would see that the forces of New England seized
Beausejour and De Lancey would have Colonel William Johnson to move
upon Crown Point and then Niagara. Acadia also would be
taken. Dinwiddie after Shirley was the most vigorous of the governors,
and he promised that the full force of Virginia should be behind
Braddock. But to Shirley was given the great vision. He foresaw the
complete disappearance of French power from North America, and, to
achieve a result that he desired so much, it was only necessary for
the colonists to act together and with vigor. While he recognized in
Braddock infirmities of temper and insufficient knowledge of his
battlefield, he knew him to be energetic and courageous and he
believed that the first blow, the one that he was to strike at Fort
Duquesne, would inflict a mortal blow upon France in the New World. In
every vigorous measure that he proposed Dinwiddie backed him, and the
other governors, overborne by their will, gave their consent.

While Robert sat with his friends in the shade of a grove, awaiting
the result of the deliberations in the tent, his attention was
attracted by a strong, thick-set figure in a British uniform.

"Colonel Johnson!" he cried, and running forward he shook hands
eagerly with Colonel William Johnson.

"Why, Colonel!" he exclaimed, "I didn't dream that you were here, but
I'm most happy to see you."

"And I to see you, Mr. Lennox, or Robert, as I shall call you," said
Colonel Johnson. "Alexandria is a long journey from Mount Johnson, but
you see I'm here, awaiting the results of this council,