are, too. They're going to send out troops, but the French have
dispatched a fleet and regiments already. The fact that our colonies
are so much larger than theirs is perhaps an advantage to them, as it
gives them a bigger target to aim at, and our people who are trying to
till their farms, will be struck down by their Indians from ambush."

"And you see now what a bulwark the great League of the Hodenosaunee
is to the English," said Tayoga.

"A fact that I've always foreseen," said Willet warmly. "Nobody knows
better than I do the power of the Six Nations, and nobody has ever
been readier to admit it."

"I know, Great Bear. You have always been our true friend. If all the
white men were like you no trouble would ever arise between them and
the Hodenosaunee."

Robert finished his food and resumed a comfortable place against a
tree. Willet put out the fire and he and Tayoga sat down in like
fashion. Their trees were close together, but they did not talk
now. Each was absorbed in his own thoughts and Robert had much to
think about.

The war was going slowly. He had believed a great flare would come at
once and that everybody would soon be in the thick of action, but
since young Washington had been defeated by Coulon de Villiers at the
Great Meadows the British Colonies had spent much time debating and
pulling in different directions. The union for which his eager soul
craved did not come, and the shadow of the French power in the north,
reinforced by innumerable savages, hung heavy and black over the