ty chiefs, or, including the head chiefs,
fifty-six.

Some of these details Henry was to learn later. He was also to learn
many of the words that the chiefs said through a source of which he
little dreamed at the present. Yet he divined much of it from the
meeting of the fiery Wyandots with the highly developed and warlike
power of the Six Nations.

Thayendanegea was talking now, and Timmendiquas, silent and grave, was
listening. The Mohawk approached his subject indirectly through the
trope, allegory, and simile that the Indian loved. He talked of the
unseen deities that ruled the life of the Iroquois through mystic
dreams. He spoke of the trees, the rocks, and the animals, all of which
to the Iroquois had souls. He called on the name of the Great Spirit,
which was Aieroski before it became Manitou, the Great Spirit who, in
the Iroquois belief, had only the size of a dwarf because his soul was
so mighty that he did not need body.

"This land is ours, the land of your people and mine, oh, chief of the
brave Wyandots," he said to Timmendiquas. "Once there was no land, only
the waters, but Aieroski raised the land of Konspioni above the foam.
Then he sowed five handfuls of red seed in it, and from those handfuls
grew the Five Nations. Later grew up the Tuscaroras, who have joined
us and other tribes of our race, like yours, great chief of the brave
Wyandots."

Timmendiquas still said nothing. He did not allow an eyelid to flicker
at this assumption of superiority for the Six Nations over all other
tribes. A great warrior he was, a great politician also, and he wished
to unite the Iroquois in a firm league with the tribes of the Ohio
valley. The coals from the great fire glowed and threw out an intense
heat. Thayendanegea unbuttoned his military coat and threw it back,
revealing a bare bronze chest, upon which was painted the device of
the Mohawks, a flint and steel. The chests of the Onondaga, Cayuga, and
Seneca head chiefs were also bared to the glow. The device on the chest
of the Onondaga was a cabin on top of a hill, the Caytiga's was a great
pipe, and the figure of a mountain adorned the Seneca bronze.

"We have had the messages that you have sent to us, Timmendiquas,"
said Thayendanegea, "and they are good in the eyes of our people, the
Rotinonsionni (the Mohawks). They please, too, the ancient tribe, the
Kannoseone (the Onondagas), the valiant Hotinonsionni (the Senecas), and
all our brethren of the Six Natio