an ever-broadening vision. Some time during these years
he had reached the position among his tribesmen which he
long had coveted. He had been recognized by the Mohawks
as one of their chieftains. This honour he had won by
right not of birth but of merit, and for this reason he
was known as a 'Pine-tree Chief.' Like the pine-tree,
tall and strong and conspicuous among the trees of the
forest, he had achieved a commanding place in the Mohawk
nation. True, he was a chief merely by gift of his tribe,
but he seems, nevertheless, to have been treated with
the same respect and confidence as the hereditary chiefs.
He rejoiced in his new distinction. Evil days were ahead,
and he was now in a position to do effective work on
behalf of his people and of the British when the inevitable
war should break out. A still greater honour was in store
for him. When war was declared he at once became recognized
as the war leader of the Six Nations--the War Chief. The
hereditary successor of King Hendrick, who was slain at
Lake George in 1755, was Little Abraham; but Little
Abraham, it appears, desired to remain neutral in the
impending struggle, and by common consent Brant assumed
the leadership of the Iroquois in war.

Two things favoured Brant in any appeal he might make in
the interests of the British to the loyalty of the Six
Nations. For over a hundred years they had taken from
the colonial agents who represented the crown wampum
belts as a sign of treaty obligations. Treaties had been
made with the king; the word of the red man had been
given to the king. Promises made to them by the king's