was a personality. He was a personality in the sense that Tayoga was,
one who radiated a spirit or light that others were compelled to notice.
He knew that there was no such thing as looking into the future, but he
felt with conviction that this man was going to impinge sharply upon his
life, whether as a friend or an enemy not even Tarenyawagon, who sent
the dreams, would tell, but he could not be insensible to the personal
charm of the Chevalier Raymond Louis de St. Luc.

What reception would the fifty sachems give to the belt that the
chevalier would bring? Would they be proof against his lightness, his
ease, his fluency and his ability to paint a glowing picture of French
might and French gratitude? Robert knew far better than most of his own
race the immensity of the stake. He who roamed the forest with Tayoga
and the Great Bear understood to the full the power of the Hodenosaunee.
It was true, too, that the Indian commissioners at Albany had not done
their duty and had given the Indians just cause of complaint, at the
very moment when the great League should be propitiated. Yet the
friendship between the Iroquois and the English had been ancient and
strong, and he would not have feared so much had it been any other than
St. Luc who was going to meet the sachems in council.

Robert shook his head as if the physical motion would dismiss his
apprehensions, and walked farther up the hill to a point where he could
see the lake. A light wind was blowing, and little waves of crumbling
silver pursued one another across its surface. On the far side the bank,
crowned with dense forest showing black in the dusk, rose to a great
height, but the lad's eyes came back to the water, his heart missing a
beat as he thought he saw a shadow on its surface, but so near the
opposite shore that it almost merged with a fringe of bushes there.