gly,
and the eye of the Onondaga met him with an answering gaze, fixed and
unfaltering.

"Captain de Galisonniere has told me," said the Marquis, "that you are a
young chief, or coming chief, of the Iroquois, that despite your youth
you have thought much and have influence with your people. How do the
Iroquois feel toward the French who wish them so well?"

"They do not forget that this Quebec is the Stadacona of one of their
great warrior nations, the Mohawks," replied Tayoga.

The Marquis started and flushed.

"Quebec is ours," he said slowly, after taking due thought. "You cannot
undo what was done two centuries ago."

"The nations of the Hodenosaunee do not forget, what are two centuries
to them?"

"When you return to the Long House in the vale of Onondaga, and the
fifty sachems meet in council, tell them Onontio has only kindness in
his heart for them. The war clouds that hang over England and France
grow many and thick, and my children are brave and vigilant. They know
the ways of the forest. They travel by day and by night, and they strike
hard. The English are not a match for them."

"If I should tell them what Onontio tells to me they would say: 'Go back
to Quebec, which is by right the Stadacona of our great warrior nation,
the Mohawks, and say to Onontio that his words are like the songs of
birds, but we, the Hodenosaunee, do not forget. We remember Frontenac,
and we remember Champlain, the first of the white men to come among us
with guns, the use of which we did not know, killing our warriors.'"

"Time makes changes, Tayoga, and the Iroquois must change too."

Tayoga, was silent, but his haughty face did not relax a particle. The
Marquis was about to say more upon the subject, but he had a penetrating
mind and he saw that his words would be wasted.

"We shall see what we shall see," he said. "My master, His Majesty King
Louis, keeps his promises. Mr. Lennox, as I take it, still clinging to
my inference, it will be some time before you see the Governor of New
York again. But, when you do see him, and if my letter has not then
reached him, tell him it is coming by ship to New York. As for you and
your comrades, I wish you a safe journey whithersoever you go. An
aide-de-camp will give the three of you, as you go out, passports which
will be your safe conduct until you reach the borders of Canada. Of
course, I cannot speak with certainty concerning anything that will
happen to you beyond that point.