The Rulers of the Lakes: A Story of George and Champlain by Joseph A. Altsheler
CHAPTER VI
THE DARK STRANGER
Robert arrived at the house of Jacobus Huysman about dark and Tayogacame with him. Willet was detained at the camp on the flats, where hehad business with Colonel Johnson, who consulted him often. The two ladswere in high good spirits, and Mynheer Jacobus, whatever he may havebeen under the surface, appeared to be so, too. Robert believed that thearmy would march very soon now. The New York and New England men alikewere full of fire, eager to avenge Braddock's defeat and equally eagerto drive back and punish the terrible clouds of savages which, under theleadership of the French, were ravaging the border, spreadingdevastation and terror on all sides.
"There has been trouble, Mynheer Huysman," said Robert, "betweenGovernor Shirley of Massachusetts, who has been in camp several days,and Colonel Johnson. I saw Governor Shirley when he was in the councilat Alexandria, in Virginia, and I know, from what I've heard, that he'sthe most active and energetic of all the governors, but they say he'svery vain and pompous."
"Vanity and pomp comport ill with a wilderness campaign," said MynheerJacobus, soberly. "Of all the qualities needed to deal with the Frenchund Indians I should say that they are needed least. It iss a shame thata man should demand obeisance from others when they are all in a greatcrisis."
"The Governor is eager to push the war," said Robert, "yet he demandsmore worship of the manner from Colonel Johnson than the colonel hastime to give him. 'Tis said, too, that the delays he makes causedissatisfaction among the Mohawks, who are eager to be on the great wartrail. Daganoweda, I know, fairly burns with impatience."
Mynheer Jacobus sighed.
"We will not haf the advantage of surprise," he said. "Of that I amcertain. I do believe that the French und Indians know of all ourmovements und of all we do."
"Spies?" said Robert.
"It may be," replied Mynheer Jacobus.
Robert was silent. His first thought was of St. Luc, who, he knew, woulddare anything, and it was just the sort of adventure that would appealto his bold and romantic spirit. But his thought passed on. He had noreal feeling that St. Luc was in the camp. Mynheer Jacobus must bethinking of another or others. But Huysman volunteered no explanation.Presently he rose from his chair, went to a window and looked out.Tayoga observed him keenly.
The Onondaga, trained from his childhood to observe all kinds ofmanifestations, was a marvelous reader of the minds of men, and, merelybecause Mynheer Jacobus Huysman interrupted a conversation to look outinto the dark, he knew that he expected something. And whatever it wasit was important, as the momentary quiver of the big man's lipindicated.
The Indian, although he may hide it, has his full share of curiosity,and Tayoga wondered why Mynheer Jacobus watched. But he asked noquestion.
The Dutchman came back from the window, and asked the lads in to supperwith him. His slight air of expectancy had disappeared wholly, butTayoga was not deceived. "He has merely been convinced that he wasgazing out too soon," he said to himself. "As surely as Tododaho on hisstar watches over the Onondagas, he will come back here after supper andlook from this window, expecting to see something or somebody."
The supper of Mynheer Jacobus was, in reality, a large dinner, and, asit was probably the last the two lads would take with him before theywent north, he had given to it a splendor and abundance even greaterthan usual. Tayoga and Robert, as became two such stout youths, atebountifully, and Mynheer Jacobus Huysman, whatever his secret troublesmay have been, wielded knife and fork with them, knife for knife andfork for fork.
But Tayoga was sure that Mynheer Jacobus was yet expectant, and still,without making it manifest, he watched him keenly. He noted that the bigman hurried the latter part of the supper, something which the Onondagahad never known him to do before, and which, to the observant mind ofthe red youth, indicated an expectancy far greater than he had supposedat first.
Clearly Mynheer Jacobus was hastening, clearly he wished to be out ofthe room, and it was equally clear to Tayoga that he wanted to go backto his window, the one from which he could see over the grounds, andinto the street beyond.
"Will you take a little wine?" he said to Robert, as he held up abottle, through which the rich dark red color shone.
"Thank you, sir, no," replied Robert.
"Und you, Tayoga?"
"I never touch the firewater of the white man, call they it wine or callthey it whiskey."
"Good. Good for you both. I merely asked you for the sake of politeness,und I wass glad to hear you decline. But as for me, I am old enough tobe your father, und I will take a little."
He poured a small glass, drank it, and rose.
"Your old room iss ready," he said, "und now, if you two lads will go toit, you can get a good und long night's sleep."
Robert was somewhat surprised. He felt that they were being dismissed,which was almost like the return of the old days when they wereschoolboys, but Tayoga touched him on the elbow, and his declarationthat he was not sleepy died on his lips. Instead, he said a politegood-night and he and Tayoga went away as they were bid.
"Now, what did he mean? Why was he so anxious to get rid of us?" askedRobert, when they were again in their room.
"Mynheer Jacobus expects something," replied the Onondaga, gravely. "Heexpects it to come out of the night, and appear at a window of the roomin which we first sat, the window that looks over the garden, and to thestreet behind us."
"How do you know that?" asked Robert, astonished.
Tayoga explained what he had seen.
"I do not doubt you. It's convincing," said Robert, "but I'd not havenoticed it."
"We of the red nations have had to notice everything in order that wemight live. As surely as we sit here, Dagaeoga, Mynheer Jacobus is atthe window, watching. When I lie down on the bed I shall keep my clotheson, and I shall not sleep. We may be called."
"I shall do the same, Tayoga."
Nevertheless, as time passed, young Lennox fell asleep, but the Onondagadid not close his eyes. What was time to him? The red race always hadtime to spare, and nature and training had produced in him illimitablepatience. He had waited by a pool a whole day and night for a deer tocome down to drink. He heard the tall clock standing on the floor in thecorner strike ten, eleven, and then twelve, and a half hour later, whenhe was as wide awake as ever, there was a knock at the door. But he hadfirst heard the approaching footsteps of the one who came and knocked,and he was already touching the shoulder of Robert, who sat up at once,sleep wholly gone from him.
"It is Mynheer Jacobus," said Tayoga, "and he wants us."
Then he opened the door and the large red face of Mynheer Huysmanlooked into the room, which was illuminated by the moonlight.
"Come, you lads," he said, in sharp, eager tones, "und bring yourpistols with you."
Robert and Tayoga snatched up their weapons, and followed him into thesitting-room, where the tall lank youth, Peter, stood.
"You know Peter," he said, "und Peter knows you. Now, listen to what hehass to tell, but first pledge me that you will say nothing of it untilI give you leave. Do you?"
"We do," they replied together.
"Then, Peter, tell them what you haf seen, but be brief, because it maybe that we must act quickly."
"Obeying the instructions of Mynheer Jacobus Huysman, whom I serve,"said Peter, smoothly, evidently enjoying his importance of the moment,"I watched tonight the house of Mynheer Hendrik Martinus, who is nottrusted by my master. The building is large, and it stands on groundwith much shrubbery that is now heavy with leaf. So it was difficult towatch all the approaches to it, but I went about it continuously, hourafter hour. A half hour ago, I caught a glimpse of a man, strong, and,as well as I could tell in the night, of a dark complexion. He was onthe lawn, among the shrubbery, hiding a little while and then going onagain. He came to a side door of the house, but he did not knock,because there was no need. The door opened of itself, and he went in.Then the door closed of itself, and he did not come out again. I waitedten minut
Mynheer Jacobus turned to Tayoga and Robert.
"I haf long suspected," he said, "that Hendrik Martinus iss a spy in theservice of France, a traitor for his own profit, because he lovesnothing but himself und his. He has had remarkable prosperity of late, aprosperity for which no one can account, because he has had no increaseof business. Believing that a Frenchman wass here, a spy who wished tocommunicate with him, I set Peter to watch his house, und the result youknow."
"Then it is for us to go there and seize this spy," said Robert.
"It iss what I wish," said Mynheer Huysman, "und we may trap a traitorund a spy at the same time. It is well to haf money if you haf ithonestly, but Hendrik Martinus loves money too well."
He took from a drawer a great double-barreled horse pistol, put it underhis coat, and the four, quietly leaving the house, went toward that ofHendrik Martinus. There was no light except that of the moon and, in thedistance, they saw a watchman carrying a lantern and thumping upon thestones with a stout staff.
"It iss Andrius Tefft," said Mynheer Jacobus. "He hass a strong arm unda head with but little in it. It would be best that he know nothing ofthis, or he would surely muddle it."
They drew back behind some shrubbery, and Andrius Tefft, night watchman,passed by without a suspicion that one of Albany's most respectedcitizens was hiding from him. The light of his lantern faded in thedistance, and the four proceeded rapidly towards the house of HendrikMartinus, entering its grounds without hesitation and spreading in acircle about it. Robert, who lurked behind a small clipped pine in therear saw a door open, and a figure slip quietly out. It was that of aman of medium height, and as he could see by the moonlight, of darkcomplexion. He had no doubt that it was a Frenchman, the fellow whomPeter had seen enter the house.
Robert acted with great promptness, running forward and crying to thefugitive to halt. The man, quick as a flash, drew a pistol and fireddirectly at him. The lad felt the bullet graze his scalp, and, for amoment, he thought he had been struck mortally. He staggered, butrecovered himself, and raising his own pistol, fired at the flyingfigure which was now well beyond him. He saw the man halt a moment, andquiver, but in an instant he ran on again faster than ever, anddisappeared in an alley. A little later a swift form followed in pursuitand Robert saw that it was Tayoga.
Young Lennox knew that it was useless for him to follow, as he felt alittle dizzy and he was not yet sure of himself. He put his hand to hishair, where the bullet had struck, and, taking it away, looked anxiouslyat it. There was no blood upon either palm or finger, and then herealized, with great thankfulness, that he was merely suffering a briefweakness from the concussion caused by a heavy bullet passing so closeto his skull. He heard a hasty footstep, and Mynheer Huysman, breathingheavily and anxious, stood before him. Other and lighter footstepsindicated that Peter also was coming to his aid.
"Haf you been shot?" exclaimed Mynheer Jacobus
"No, only shot at," replied Robert, whimsically, "though I don't believethe marksman could come so close to me again without finishing me. Ithink it was Peter's spy because I saw him come out of the house, andcried to him to halt, but he fired first. My own bullet, I'm sure,touched him, and Tayoga is in pursuit, though the fugitive has a longlead."
"We'll leave it to Tayoga, because we haf to," said Mynheer Jacobus. "Ifanybody can catch him the Onondaga can, though I think he will get away.But come now, we will talk to Hendrik Martinus und Andrius Tefft whohass heard the shots und who iss coming back. You lads, let me do all ofthe talking. Since the spy or messenger or whatever he iss hass gotaway, it iss best that we do not tell all we know."
The watchman was returning at speed, his staff pounding quick and hardon the stones, his lantern swinging wildly. The houses there weredetached and nobody else seemed to have heard the shots, save HendrikMartinus and his family. Martinus, fully dressed, was coming out of hishouse, his manner showing great indignation, and the heads of women innightcaps appeared at the windows.
"What is this intrusion, Mynheer Huysman? Why are you in my grounds? Andwho fired those two pistol shots I heard?"
"Patience, Hendrik! Patience!" replied Mynheer Jacobus, in a smoothsuave manner that surprised Robert. "My young friend, Master Lennox,here, saw a man running across your grounds, after having slippedsurreptitiously out of your house. Suspecting that he had taken undcarried from you that which he ought not to haf, Master Lennox called tohim to stop. The reply wass a pistol bullet und Master Lennox, beingyoung und like the young prone to swift anger, fired back. But the manhass escaped with hiss spoil, whatefer it iss, und you only, Hendrik,know what it iss."
Hendrik Martinus looked at Jacobus Huysman and Jacobus Huysman lookedsquarely back at him. The angry fire died out of the eyes of Martinus,and instead came a swift look of comprehension which passed in aninstant. When he spoke again his tone was changed remarkably:
"Doubtless it was a robber," he said, "and I thank you, Mynheer Jacobus,and Master Lennox, and your boy Peter, for your attempt to catch him.But I fear that he has escaped."
"I will pursue him und capture him," exclaimed Mynheer Andrius Tefft,who stood by, listening to their words and puffing and blowing.
"I fear it iss too late, Andrius," said Mynheer Jacobus Huysman, shakinghis head. "If anyone could do it, it would be you, but doubtless MynheerHendrik hass not lost anything that he cannot replace, und it would bebetter for you, Andrius, to watch well here und guard against futureattempts."
"That would be wise, no doubt," said Martinus, and Robert thought hedetected an uneasy note in his voice.
"Then I will go," said Andrius Tefft, and he walked on, swinging hislantern high and wide, until its beams fell on every house and tree andshrub.
"I will return to my house," said Mynheer Martinus. "My wife anddaughters were alarmed by the shots, and I will tell them what hashappened."
"It iss the wise thing to do," said Mynheer Huysman, gravely, "und Iwould caution you, Hendrik, to be on your guard against robbers who slipso silently into your house und then slip out again in the same silence.The times are troubled und the wicked take advantage of them to theirown profit."
"It is true, Mynheer Jacobus," said Martinus somewhat hastily, and hewalked back to his own house without looking Huysman in the eyes again.
Mynheer Huysman, Robert and Peter returned slowly.
"I think Hendrik understands me," said Mynheer Huysman; "I am sorry thatwe did not catch the go-between, but Hendrik hass had a warning, und hewill be afraid. Our night's work iss not all in vain. Peter, you hafdone well, but I knew you would. Now, we will haf some refreshment undawait the return of Tayoga."
"I believe," said Robert, "that in Albany, when one is in doubt what todo one always eats. Is it not so?"
"It iss so," replied Mynheer Jacobus, smiling, "und what better couldone do? While you wait, build up the body, because when you build up thebody you build up the mind, too, und at the same time it iss apleasure."
Robert and Peter ate nothing, but Mynheer Jacobus partook amply of coldbeef and game, drank a great glass of home-made beer, and then smoked along pipe with intense satisfaction. One o'clock in the morning came,then two, then three, and Mynheer Jacobus, taking the stem of his pipefrom his mouth, said:
"I think it will not be long now before Tayoga iss here. Long ago hehass either caught hiss man or hiss man hass got away, und he issreturning. I see hiss shadow now in the shrubbery. Let him in, Peter."
Tayoga entered the room, breathing a little more quickly than usual, hisdark eyes showing some disappointment.
"It wass not your fault that he got away, Tayoga," said Mynheer Jacobussoothingly. "He had too long a start, und doubtless he was fleet offoot. I think he iss the very kind of man who would be fleet of foot."
"I had to pick up his trail after he went through the alley," saidTayoga, "and I lost time in doing so. When I found it he was out of themain part of the town and in the outskirts, running towards the rive
"I wish we could have caught him," said Mynheer Jacobus. "Then we mighthave uncovered much that I would like to know. What iss it, Tayoga? Youhaf something more to tell!"
"Before he reached the river," said the Onondaga, "he tore in pieces aletter, a letter that must have been enclosed in an envelope. I saw thelittle white pieces drift away before the wind. I suppose he was afraidI might catch him, and so he destroyed the letter which must have had atale to tell. When I came back I looked for the pieces, but I found onlyone large enough to bear anything that had meaning." He took from histunic a fragment of white paper and held it up. It bore upon it twowords in large letters:
"ACHILLE GARAY"
"That," said Robert, "is obviously the name of a Frenchman, and it seemsto me it must have been the name of this fugitive spy or messenger towhom the letter was addressed. Achille Garay is the man whom we want.Don't you think so, Mynheer Huysman?"
"It iss truly the one we would like to capture," said Mynheer Jacobus,"but I fear that all present chance to do so hass passed. Still, we willremember. The opportunity may come again. Achille Garay! Achille Garay!We will bear that name in mind! Und now, lads, all of you go to bed. Youhaf done well, too, Tayoga. Nobody could haf done better."
Robert, when alone the next day, met Hendrik Martinus in the street.Martinus was about to pas? without speaking, but Robert bowed politelyand said:
"I'm most sorry, Mr. Martinus, that we did not succeed in capturing yourburglar last night, but my Onondaga friend followed him to the river,which he swam, then escaping. 'Tis true that he escaped, butnevertheless Tayoga salvaged a piece of a letter that he destroyed as heran, and upon the fragment was written a name which we're quite sure wasthat of the bold robber."
Robert paused, and he saw the face of Martinus whiten.
"You do not ask me the name, Mynheer Martinus," he said. "Do you feel nocuriosity at all about it?"
"What was it?" asked Martinus, thickly.
"Achille Garay."
Martinus trembled violently, but by a supreme effort controlled himself.
"I never heard it before," he said. "It sounds like a French name."
"It is a French name. I'm quite confident of it. I merely wanted you tounderstand that we haven't lost all trace of your robber, that we knowhis name, and that we may yet take him."
"It does look as if you had a clew," said Martinus. He was as white asdeath, though naturally rubicund, and without another word he walked on.Robert looked after him and saw the square shoulders drooping a little.He had not the slightest doubt of the man's guilt, and he was filledwith indignant wonder that anyone's love of money should be strongenough to create in him the willingness to sell his country. He was sureMynheer Jacobus was right. Martinus was sending their military secretsinto Canada for French gold, and yet they had not a particle of proof.The man must be allowed to go his way until something much moreconclusive offered. Both he and Tayoga talked it over with Willet, andthe hunter agreed that they could do nothing for the present.
"But," he said, "the time may come when we can do much."
Then Martinus disappeared for a while from Robert's mind, because thenext day he met the famous old Indian known in the colonies as KingHendrik of the Mohawks. Hendrik, an ardent and devoted friend of theAmericans and English, had come to Albany to see Colonel WilliamJohnson, and to march with him against the French and Indians. There wasno hesitation, no doubt about him, and despite his age he would lead theMohawk warriors in person into battle. Willet, who had known him long,introduced Robert, who paid him the respect and deference due to an agedand great chief.
Hendrik, who was a Mohegan by birth but by adoption a Mohawk, adoptionhaving all the value of birth, was then a full seventy years of age. Hespoke English fluently, he had received education in an American school,and a substantial house, in which he had lived for many years, stoodnear the Canajoharie or upper castle of the Mohawks. He had been twiceto England and on each occasion had been received by the king, the headof one nation offering hospitality to the allied head of another. Aportrait of him in full uniform had been painted by a celebrated Londonpainter.
He had again put on his fine uniform upon the occasion of his meetingwith Colonel Johnson on the Albany flats, and when Robert saw him he wasstill clothed in it. His coat was of superfine green cloth, heavilyornamented with gold epaulets and gold lace. His trousers were of thesame green cloth with gold braid all along the seams, and his feet werein shoes of glossy leather with gold buckles. A splendid cocked hat witha feather in it was upon his head. Beneath the shadow of the hat was aface of reddish bronze, aged but intelligent, and, above all, honest.
Hendrik in an attire so singular for a Mohawk might have lookedridiculous to many a man, but Robert, who knew so much of Indian nature,found him dignified and impressive.
"I have heard of you, my son," said Hendrik, in the precise, scholarlyEnglish which Tayoga used. "You are a friend of the brave young chief,Daganoweda, and to you, because of your gift of speech, has been giventhe name, Dagaeoga. The Onondaga, Tayoga, of the clan of the Bear, isyour closest comrade, and you are also the one who made the great speechin the Vale of Onondaga before the fifty sachems against the missionary,Father Drouillard, and the French leader, St. Luc. They say that wordsflowed like honey from your lips."
"It was the occasion, not any words of mine," said Robert modestly.
"I was ill then, and could not be present," continued the old chiefgravely, "and another took my place. I should have been glad could Ihave heard that test of words in the Vale of Onondaga, because goldenspeech is pleasant in my ears, but Manitou willed it otherwise, and Icannot complain, as I have had much in my long life. Now the time forwords has passed. They have failed and the day of battle is at hand. Igo on my last war trail."
"No! No, Hendrik!" exclaimed Willet. "You will emerge again the victor,covered with glory."
"Yes, Great Bear, it is written here," insisted the old Mohawk, tappinghis forehead. "It is my last war trail, but it will be a great one. Iknow it. How I know it I do not know, but I know it. The voice ofManitou has spoken in my ear and I cannot doubt. I shall fall in battleby the shores of Andiatarocte (the Iroquois name of Lake George) andthere is no cause to mourn. I have lived the three score years and tenwhich the Americans and English say is the allotted age of man, and whatcould be better for a Mohawk chief, when the right end for his days hascome, than to fall gloriously at the head of his warriors? I have knownyou long, Great Bear. You have always been the friend of theHodenosaunee. You have understood us, you have never lied to us, andtricked us, as the fat traders do. I think that when I draw my lastbreath you will not be far away and it will be well. I could not wishfor any better friend than Great Bear to be near when I leave this earthon my journey to the star on which the mighty Hayowentha, the Mohawkchief of long ago, lives."
Willet was much affected, and he put his hand on the shoulder of his oldfriend.
"I hope you are wrong, Hendrik," he said, "and that many years of goodlife await you, but if you do fall it is fitting, as you say, to fall atthe head of your warriors."
The old chief smiled. It was evident that he had made his peace with hisManitou, and that he awaited the future without anxiety.
"Remember the shores of Andiatarocte," he said. "They are bold andlofty, covered with green forest, and they enclose the most beautiful ofall the lakes. It is a wonderful lake. I have known it more than sixtyyears. The mountains, heavy with the great forest, rise all around it.Its waters are blue or green or silver as the skies over it change. Itis full of islands, each like a gem in a cluster. I have gone thereoften, merely to sit on a great cliff a half mile above its waters, andlook down on the lake, Andiatarocte, the Andiatarocte of theHodenosaunee that Manitou gave to us because we strive to serve him. Itis a grea
The face of the old chief was rapt and mystic. The black eyes in thebronzed face looked into futurity and infinity. Robert was more thanimpressed, he had a feeling of awe. A great Indian chief was a greatIndian chief to him, as great as any man, and he did not doubt that thewords of Hendrik would come true. And like Hendrik himself he did notsee any cause for grief. He, too, had looked upon the beautiful shoresof Andiatarocte, and it was a fitting place for a long life to end,preparatory to another and eternal life among the stars.
He gravely saluted King Hendrik with the full respect and deference duehim, to which the chief replied, obviously pleased with the good mannersof the youth, and then he and the hunter walked to another portion ofthe camp.
"A great man, a really great man!" said Willet.
"He made a great speech here in Albany more than a year ago to acongress of white men, and he has made many great speeches. He is also agreat warrior, and for nearly a half century he has valiantly defendedthe border against the French and their Indians."
"I wonder if what he says about falling in battle on the shores ofAndiatarocte will come true."
"We'll wait and see, Robert, we'll wait and see, but I've an idea thatit will. Some of these Indians, especially the old, seem to have thegift of second sight, and we who live so much in the woods know thatmany strange things happen."
A few days of intense activity followed. The differences betweenGovernor Shirley and the commander, Colonel William Johnson, werecomposed, and the motley army would soon march forward to the head ofAndiatarocte to meet Dieskau and the French. It was evident that thebeautiful lake which both English and French claimed, but which reallybelonged to the Hodenosaunee, had become one of two keys to the NorthAmerican lock, the other being its larger and scarcely less beautifulsister, Champlain. They and their chains of rivers had been forcenturies the great carry between what had become the French and Englishcolonies, and whoever became the ruler of these two lakes would becomethe ruler of the continent.
It was granted to Robert with his extraordinary imaginative gifts tolook far into the future. He had seen the magnificence of the northcountry, its world of forest and fertile land, its network of rivers andlakes, a region which he believed to be without an equal anywhere onearth, and he knew that an immense and vigorous population was bound tospring up there. He had his visions and dreams, and perhaps his youthmade him dream all the more, and more magnificently than older men whoselives had been narrowed by the hard facts of the present. It was inthese brilliant, glowing dreams of his that New York might some day beas large as London, with a commerce as large, and that Boston andPhiladelphia and other places for which the sites were not yet cleared,would be a match for the great cities of the Old World.
And yet but few men in the colonies were dreaming such dreams, whichbecame facts in a period amazingly short, as the history of the worldruns. Perhaps the dream was in the wise and prophetic brain of Franklinor in the great imagination of Jefferson, but there is little to provethat more than a few were dreaming that way. To everybody, almost, thepeople on the east coast of North America were merely the rival outpostsof France and England.
But the army that was starting for the green shores of Andiatarocte borewith it the fate of mighty nations, and its march, hidden and obscure,compared with that of many a great army in Europe, was destined to havea vast influence upon the world.
It was a strange composite force. There were the militiamen from NewEngland, tall, thin, hardy and shrewd, accustomed to lives of absoluteindependence, full of confidence and eager to go against the enemy. Manyof the New Yorkers were of the same type, but the troops of thatprovince also included the Germans and the Dutch, most of the Germansstill unable to speak the English language. There was the littlePhiladelphia troop under Colden, trained now, the wild rangers from theborder, and the fierce Mohawks led by King Hendrik and Daganoweda.Colonel Johnson, an Irishman by birth, but more of an American than manyof those born on the soil, was the very man to fuse and lead an army ofsuch varying elements.
Robert now saw Waraiyageh at his best. He soothed the vanity of GovernorShirley. He endeared himself to the New England officers and their men.He talked their own languages to the men of German and Dutch blood, andhe continued to wield over the Mohawks an influence that no other whiteman ever had. The Mohawk lad, Joseph Brant, the great Thayendanegea ofthe future, was nearly always with him, and Tayoga himself was not moreeager for the march.
Now came significant arrivals in the camp, Robert Rogers, the ranger, atthe head of his men, and with him Black Rifle, dark, saturnine andsilent, although Robert noticed that now and then his black eyes flashedunder the thick shade of his long lashes. They brought reports of thegreatest activity among the French and Indians about the northern end ofAndiatarocte, and that Dieskau was advancing in absolute confidence thathe would equal the achievement of Dumas, St. Luc, Ligneris and theothers against Braddock. All about him were the terrible Indian swarms.Every settler not slain had fled with his people for their lives. Onlythe most daring and skillful of the American forest runners could livein the woods, and the price they paid was perpetual vigilance. Foremostamong the Indian leaders was Tandakora, the huge Ojibway, and he sparednone who fell into his hands. Torture and death were their fate.
The face of Colonel Johnson darkened when Rogers told him the news. "Mypoor people!" he groaned. "Why were we compelled to wait so long?" Andby his "people" he meant the Mohawks no less than the whites. Thevaliant tribe, and none more valiant ever lived, was threatened withdestruction by the victorious and exultant hordes.
Refugees poured into Albany, bringing tales of destruction and terror.Albany itself would soon be attacked by Dieskau, with his regulars, hiscannon, his Canadians and his thousands of Indians, and it could notstand before them. Robert, Tayoga and Willet were with Colonel Johnson,when Rogers and Black Rifle arrived, and they saw his deep grief andanger.
"The army will march in a few more days, David, old friend," he said,"but it must move slowly. One cannot take cannon and wagons through theunbroken forest, and so I am sending forward two thousand men to cut aroad. Then our main force will advance, but we should do somethingearlier, something that will brush back these murderous swarms. David,old friend, what are we to do?"
Willet looked around in thought, and he caught the flashing eyes ofRogers. He glanced at Black Rifle and his dark eyes, too, were sparklingunder their dark lashes. He understood what was in their minds, and itappealed to him.
"Colonel Johnson," he said, "one must burn the faces of the French andIndians, and show them a victory is not theirs until they've won it. LetMr. Rogers here take the rangers he has, other picked ones from thecamp, Robert, Tayoga and me, perhaps also a chosen band of Mohawks underDaganoweda, and go forward to strike a blow that will delay Dieskau."
The somber face of Waraiyageh lightened.
"David Willet," he said, "you are a man. I have always known it, but itseems to me that every time I meet you you have acquired some new virtueof the mind. 'Tis a daring task you undertake, but a noble one that Ithink will prove fruitful. Perhaps, though, you should leave the ladsbehind."
Then up spoke Robert indignantly.
"I've been through a thousand dangers with Dave, and I'll not shirk anew one. I have no commission in the army and it cannot hold me. I shallbe sorry to go without your permission, Colonel Johnson, but go I surelywill."
"For more centuries than man knows, my ancestors have trod the wartrail," said Tayoga, "and I should not be worthy to have been born a sonof the clan of the Bear, of the nation Onondaga, of the great League ofthe Hodenosaunee, if I did not go now upon the greatest war trail ofthem all, when the nations gather to fight for the lor
He stood very erect, his head thrown back a little, his eyes flashing,his face showing unalterable resolve. Colonel Johnson laughed mellowly.
"What a pair of young eagles we have!" he exclaimed in a pleased tone."And if that fiery child, Joseph Brant, were here he would be wild to gotoo! And if I let him go on such a venture Molly Brant would neverforgive me. Well, it's a good spirit and I have no right to make anyfurther objection. But do you, Dave Willet, and you, Rogers, and you,Black Rifle, see that they take no unnecessary risks."
Grosvenor also was eager to go, but they thought his experience in thewoods was yet too small for him to join the rangers, and, to his greatdisappointment, the band was made up without him. Then they arranged fortheir departure.