orces, were in doubt a long time about standing, and I know from what I
heard that they finally decided to defend the place because we did not
bring up our guns. We're making no such mistake now; we're not
underrating the enemy in that way. It's glorious, Dave, to come back
over the ground where you were beaten and retrieve your errors."

"So it is, Robert. We'll soon see this famous Ticonderoga again."

Robert's heart beat hard once more. All the country about him was
familiar. So much had been concentrated here, and now it seemed to him
that the climax was approaching. Many of the actors in last year's great
drama were now on another stage, but Bourlamaque and St. Luc were at
hand, and Tandakora had come too with his savages. He looked around it
the splendid landscape of lake and mountain and green forest, and the
pulses in his temples throbbed fast.

"Aye, Dagaeoga," said Tayoga, who was looking at him, "it is a great day
that has come."

"I think so," said Robert, "and what pleases me most is the sight of the
big guns. Look how they come off the boats! They'll smash down that
wooden wall against which so many good men hurled themselves to death
last year. We've got a general who may not be the greatest genius in the
world, but he'll have neither a Braddock's defeat nor a Ticonderoga
disaster."

Caution, supreme caution, was evident to them all as they moved slowly
forward, with the bristling guns at the front. Robert's faith in the
cannon was supreme. He looked upon them as their protectors. They were
to be the match for Ticonderoga.

On they went, winding through the forest and valleys, but they met
nothing. The green woods were silent and deserted, though much was there
for Tayoga to read.

"Here still goes Tandakora," he said, "and his heart is as angry as
ever. He is bitter against the French, too, because he fears now that he
has taken the wrong side. He sees the power of his enemies growing and
growing, and Montcalm is not here to lead the French. I do not think
Tandakora will go into the fort with St. Luc and Bourlamaque. His place
is not inside the walls. He wants the great forest to roam in."

"In that Tandakora is right," said Willet; "he acts according to his
lights. A fortress is no place for an Indian."

"Tandakora is now going more slowly," resumed the Onondaga. "His paces
shorten. It may be that he will stop to talk with some one. Ah! he does,
and it is no less a man than Sharp Sword himself