d fled to the Mohawks he crossed a
lake supposed to be the Oneida. While paddling along he noticed that man
tiny black, purple, and white shells clung to his paddle. Reaching the
shore he found such shells in long rows upon the beach, and it occurred
to him to use them for the depiction of thought according to color. He
strung them on threads of elm bark, and afterward, when the great league
was formed, the shells were made to represent five clasped hands. For
four hundred years the wampum belts have been sacred among the Iroquois.

Now Thayendanegea gave the wampum belts back to the attendant, who
returned them to Satekariwate, the Mohawk. There was a silence once
more, and then the chosen singer began the Consoling Song again, but now
he did not sing it alone. Two hundred male voices joined him, and
the time became faster. Its tone changed from mourning and sorrow
to exultation and menace. Everyone thought of war, the tomahawk, and
victory. The song sung as it was now became a genuine battle song,
rousing and thrilling. The Long House trembled with the mighty chorus,
and its volume poured forth into the encircling dark woods.

All the time the song was going on, Satekariwate, the Mohawk, stood
holding the belts in his hand, but when it was over he gave them to an
attendant, who carried them to another head chief. Thayendanegea now
went to the center of the room and, standing between the two fires,
asked who were the candidates for the places of the dead chiefs.

The dead chiefs were three, and three tall men, already chosen among
their own tribes, came forward to succeed them. Then a fourth came, and
Henry was startled. It was Timmendiquas, who, as the bravest chief of
the brave Wyandots, was about to become, as a signal tribute, and as
a great sign of friendship, an adopted son and honorary chief of the
Mohawks, Keepers of the Western Gate, and most warlike of all the
Iroquois tribes.

As Timmendiquas stood before Thayendanegea, a murmur of approval deeper
than any that had gone before ran through all the crowd in the Long
House, and it was deepest on the women's benches, where sat many matrons
of the Iroquois, some of whom were chiefs-a woman could be a chief among
the Iroquois.

The candidates were adjudged acceptable by the other chiefs, and
Thayendanegea addressed them on their duties, while they listened
in grave silence. With his address the sacred part of the rite was
concluded. Nothing remained now but t