of Tayoga glittered, as well they might,
since the people who were the greatest in all the world to him were
about to deliberate on their fate and that of others.

The three, side by side, their hearts beating hard, advanced slowly and
with dignity through the groves. From many points came the sound of
singing and down the aisles of the trees they saw young girls in
festival attire. All the foliage was in deepest green and the sky was
the soft but brilliant blue of early spring. The air seemed to be
charged with electricity, because all had a tense and expectant feeling.

For Robert, so highly imaginative, the luminous glow deepened. He had
studied much in the classics, after the fashion of the time, in the
school at Albany, and his head was filled with the old Greek and Roman
learning. Now he saw the ancient symbolism reproduced in the great
forests of North America by the nations of the Hodenosaunee, who had
never heard of Greece or Rome, nor, to him, were the religion and poetry
of the Iroquois inferior in power and beauty, being much closer kin than
the gods of Greece and Rome to his own Christian beliefs.

"Manitou favors us," said Tayoga, looking up at the soft blue velvet of
the sky. "Gaoh, the spirit of the Winds, moves but gently in his home,
Dayodadogowah."

He looked toward the west, because it was there that Gaoh, who had the
bent figure and weazened face of an old man, always sat, Manitou having
imprisoned him with the elements, and having confined him to one place.
In the beautiful Iroquois mythology, Gaoh often struggled to release
himself, though never with success. Sometimes his efforts were but mild,
and then he produced gentle breezes, but when he fought fiercely for
freedom the great storms blew and tore down the forests.

"Gaoh is not very restless today," continued Tayoga. "He struggles but
lightly, and the wind from the west is soft upon our faces."

"And it brings the perfume of flowers and of tender young leaves with
it, Tayoga," said Willet. "It's a wonderful world and I'm just a boy
today, standing at its threshold."

"And even though war may come, perhaps Manitou will smile upon us," said
Tayoga. "The Three Sisters whom Hawenneu, who is the same to the white
man as Manitou, gave to us, the spirit of the Corn, the spirit of the
Squash and the spirit of the Bean will abide with us and give us plenty.
The spirits in the shape of beautiful young girls hover over us. We
cannot see them, bu