will talk for the French. Our young friend here, whom an old chief of
your nation has named Dagaeoga, is, as you have heard, a great orator,
and he will speak for the English. He will measure himself against the
Frenchman, 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 no
Frenchman. Have I not heard? And if he can use so many words here in the
forest before a few men what can he not do in the vale of Onondaga
before the gathered warriors of the Hodenosaunee? Truly the throat of
Dagaeoga can never tire. The words flow from his mouth like water over
stones, and like it, flow on forever. It is music like the wind singing
among the leaves. He can talk the anger from the heart of a raging
moose, or he can talk the otter up from the depths of the river. Great
is the speech of Dagaeoga."

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

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

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

They struck the great trail, _waagwenneyu_, and traveled fast. The next
day six Mohawks from their upper castle, Ganegahaga on the Mohawk river
near the mouth of West Canada Creek, joined them and they continued to
press on with speed, entering the heart of the country of the
Hodenosaunee, Robert feeling anew what a really great land it was, with
its green forests, its blue lakes, its silver rivers and its myriad of
creeks and brooks. Nature had lavished everything upon it, and he did
not wonder that the Iroquois should guard it with such valor, and
cherish it with such tenderness. As he sped on with them he was
acquiring for the time at least an Indian soul under a white skin. Long
association and a flexible mind enabled him to penetrate the thoughts of
the Iroquois and to think as they did.

He knew how the word had been passed through the vast forest. He knew
that every warrior, woman and boy of the Hodenosaunee understood how the
two great powers beyond the sea and their children here, were about to
go into battle on the edge of their country. And what must the
Hodenosaunee do? And he knew, too, that as the Six Nations went so might
go the war in America. He had seen too much to underrate their v