elf, who
watch for my coming."

Robert recalled that there were Catholic converts among the Onondagas, a
fact that he had forgotten for the time, and he realized at once what a
powerful factor Father Drouillard would be in the fight against him.

"The Chevalier de St. Luc has been here for some time," he said,
"waiting until the fifty sachems are ready to hear him in council, when
he will speak for France. Mr. Willet and I are also waiting to speak for
England. But the Chevalier de St. Luc and I are the best of friends, and
I hope, Father Drouillard, that you, who have come also to uphold the
cause of France, will not look upon me as an enemy, but as one,
unfitting though he may be, who wishes to do what he can for his
country."

Father Drouillard smiled again.

"Ah, my son," he said, "you are a good lad. You bore yourself well in
Quebec, and I have naught against you, save that you are not of our
race."

"And for that, reverend sir, you cannot blame me."

Father Drouillard smiled for the third time. It was not often that he
smiled three times in one day, and again he reflected that this was a
handsome and most winning lad.

"Peace, my son!" he said. "Protestant you are and Catholic am I, English
you are and French am I, but no ill wind can ever blow between you and
me. We are but little children in the hands of the Omnipotent and we can
only await His decree."

Robert told Willet a little later that Father Drouillard had come, and
the hunter looked very grave.

"Our task has doubled," he said. "Now we fight both St. Luc and Father
Drouillard, the army and the church."

CHAPTER XVI

THE GREAT TEST

While Robert and Willet had been glad hitherto that the council of the
fifty sachems had delayed its meeting, they were anxious, now that
Father Drouillard had come, to hasten it. That the army and the church,
that is the French army and the French church, were in close alliance,
they soon had full proof. The priest and the chevalier were much
together, and Robert caught an occasional flash of exultation in St.
Luc's eyes.

The new influence was visible also among a minority of the Onondagas.
The faith of the converts was very strong, and Father Drouillard was to
them not only a teacher but an emblem also, and through him, a
Frenchman, they looked upon France as the chosen country of the new God
whom they worshiped. And Father Drouillard never worked harder than in
those fateful days. His thin face