clearer notion of the situation between the two nations than they
had hitherto had.

They had spent a week in the quaint Dutch town of Albany, and there
they had heard many things with regard to the state of parties and
the affairs between the two nations.

England and France were nominally at peace, or had been, even
whilst these murderous onslaughts had been going on in the west.
But it was evident to all that war must be shortly declared between
the countries, if it had not already been proclaimed. The scent of
battle seemed in the very air. Nothing was talked of but the great
struggle for supremacy in the west, which must shortly be fought
out to the bitter end.

The aim of France was to connect Canada with Louisiana by a chain
of forts, and keep the English penned up in their eastern provinces
without room to expand. The northern links of this chain were Fort
Ticonderoga, just where the waters of Lake George join those of
Champlain; Fort Niagara, which commanded the lakes; and Fort
Duquesne, at the head of the Ohio, the key to the great
Mississippi.

It was a gigantic scheme, and one full of ambition; there was one
immense drawback. The French emigrants of the western world
numbered only about one hundred and eighty thousand souls, whilst
the English colonies had their two millions of inhabitants. The
French could only accomplish their ends if the Indians would become
and remain their allies. The English, though equally anxious to
keep on good terms with the dusky denizens of the woods, who could