As a matter of course we went, taking our stations at the head of the
column just behind the commander, and when the word to march had been
given I began to regret having thus been favored, for never one of us
carried a weapon of any kind, and if Brant was in the humor he could have
us all butchered before those whom we had left behind would get an inkling
of what was going on.

When we had come to the edge of the clearing which had been pointed out by
the ill-mannered messenger, our further advance was stopped by two Indians
who were rigged out in all the bravery of feathers, beads, and
robes,--nothing missing in their toilet save the war-paint,--and told to
remain at that spot until the sachem and his party arrived.

It was treating General Herkimer rather shabbily, so I thought, to force
him to wait like a child until the master was ready to put in an
appearance; but there was nothing else to be done, and we squatted on the
ferns and rocks a full half-hour before the man who was soon to be the
great sachem of the Six Nations was pleased to show himself.

Thayendanega had gotten himself up especially for the occasion, and a more
gorgeous redskin I never saw.

He had forty or more savages with him, and strutted on at their head as if
he was a king, and we who had been waiting so long no more than the dirt
beneath his feet.

Then suddenly, as if until that moment he hadn't the slightest idea
General Herkimer was anywhere in the vicinity, he sent one of his company
to our commander, he himself continuing to move on until he stood in the