from Philadelphia have not heard of General Braddock's great defeat.
French and savage runners could have reached them with the news, could
have taunted them from the forest, but they would not wish to do so;
they seek instead to gather their forces first, to have all the effect
of surprise, to take the fort, its garrison and the people as one takes
a ripe apple from a tree, just when it is ready to fall."

"That rout back there by Duquesne was a terrible affair for us, Tayoga,
not alone because it uncovers the border, but because it heartens all
our enemies. What joy the news must have caused in Quebec, and what joy
it will cause in Paris, too, when it reaches the great French capital!
The French will think themselves invincible and so will their red
allies."

"They would be invincible, Dagaeoga, if they could take with them the
Hodenosaunee."

"And may not this victory of the French and their tribes at Duquesne
shake the faith of the Hodenosaunee?"

"No, Dagaeoga. The fifty sachems will never let the great League join
Onontio. Champlain and Frontenac have been gone long, but their shadows
still stand between the French and the Hodenosaunee, and there is
Quebec, the lost Stadacona of the Ganegaono, whom you call the Mohawks.
As long as the sun and stars stand in the heavens the Keepers of the
Eastern Gate are the enemies of the French. Even now, as you know, they
fight by the side of the Americans and the English."

"It is true. I was wrong to question the faith of the great nations of
the Hodenosaunee. If none save the Mohawks fight for us it is at least