THE SHADOW OF THE
NORTH




CHAPTER I

THE ONONDAGA


Tayoga, of the Clan of the Bear, of the nation Onondaga, of the great
League of the Hodenosaunee, advanced with utmost caution through a
forest, so thick with undergrowth that it hid all objects twenty yards
away. He was not armed with a rifle, but carried instead a heavy bow,
while a quiver full of arrows hung over his shoulder. He wore less
clothing than when he was in the white man's school at Albany, his
arms and shoulders being bare, though not painted.

The young Indian's aspect, too, had changed. The great struggle
between English and French, drawing with it the whole North American
wilderness, had begun and, although the fifty sachems still sought to
hold the Six Nations neutral, many of their bravest warriors were
already serving with the Americans and English, ranging the forest as
scouts and guides and skirmishers, bringing to the campaign an
unrivaled skill, and a faith sealed by the long alliance.

Tayoga had thrown himself into the war heart and soul. Nothing could
diminish by a hair his hostility to the French and the tribes allied
with them. The deeds of Champlain and Frontenac were but of yesterday,