the citizen, the yoke-bearer. I feared the transformation was not
final. Yet I could never read my giant. There were unexpected ridges
of principle in the general slough of his makeup and perhaps the Indian
girl was resting on one of them.

The woman came to the wedding, Starling with her. I bowed to them
both, but I would do no more, for the Indians were watching. The woman
looked pale and grave. I had seen her angry and I had seen her
despairing, but I had never before seen her dispirited. She looked so
now.

And then came the general council with Cadillac in the chair. It was
held in a barrack room and the tribes had forty chiefs in waiting.
There were Ottawas, Hurons, and the party of Senecas. Feathered and
painted, they were as expressionless as the stone calumets in their
hands; by contrast, our French faces were childishly open and
expressive.

Cadillac looked them over and began his speech. Commonly his tongue
ran trippingly, but with the opening words his speech halted. I knew
he was moved. With all his volubility the man took responsibility
heavily, and these strange bronze men with their cruel eyes and
impassive faces were his wards. He spoke in French, and I translated
first to the Hurons, then to the Ottawas. He called the tribes to aid
him in brightening the covenant chain, and his rhetoric mounted with
his theme till I felt my blood heat with admiration for him. He
concluded with a plea for loyalty, and he gave each nation a belt to
bind his words.

And then the chiefs rose in reply. The Hurons spoke first, and though
they hedged their meaning by look and word I could feel the sentiment
swaying toward our side. They brought up many minor points and gave
belts in confirmation. Kondiaronk's clan were openly friendly, openly
touched by Cadillac's speech, and when one of the Baron's band took the
cue and gave a wampum necklace, "to deter the French brothers from
unkind thoughts," I felt that the worst of the day was over, and
welcomed the Ottawa speakers with a relaxation of the tension that had
held me, for I had been upon the rack. Mind and ear had been taxed to
miss no word or intonation, for a slighted syllable might lose our
cause. The speeches had droned like flies at midday, but all the
verbiage had been heavy with significance. I spoke French, Huron, and
Ottawa in turn, and through it all I listened, listened for the opening
of the door.

For Cadillac had told me that Mad