s have broken their pledges and have
not repented, they must be punished. But the Cayugas and Onondagas and
Oneidas and Mohawks have not broken their pledges. The Great Mountain
has sent the Big Buffalo to tell them that he has seen that they are
loyal, and he is pleased. He knows that they are wise. If the
Onondagas have a grievance, he will not forget it, and if they ask for
vengeance he will hear them. The Great Mountain knows that the
Onondagas are his children, that they will not make war upon their
father. He sends this coat of seal fur that the hearts of the Cayugas
and Onondagas and Oneidas and Mohawks may be kept warm, and to tell
them that he loves them and will protect them."

The maid's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"I wish they would speak, or laugh, or do something," she whispered to
Father Claude, "Are they not interested? They hardly seem to hear
him."

The priest looked at her gravely.

"Yes," he replied, "they are listening."

The time had come to speak of La Grange. The Captain had been steadily
leading up to this moment. He had tried to show the Indians that they
had no complaint, no cause for war, unless it was the one incident at
Fort Frontenac. He knew that the chiefs not only understood his
argument, but that they were quietly waiting for him to approach this
real cause of trouble, and were probably curious to see how he would
meet it. The mind of the Iroquois, when in the council, separated from
the heat and emotion of the dance, the hunt, the war-path, was
remarkably keen. Menard felt sure that if he could present his case
logically and firmly, it would appeal to most of the chief and older
warriors. Then the maid came into his thoughts, and he knew, though he
did not look down, that she was gazing up at him and waiting. He
hesitated for a moment longer. The chiefs, too, were waiting. The Long
House was hushed:--three hundred faces were looking at him through the
twisting, curling smoke that blurred the scene into an unreal picture.
Yes, the time had come to speak of La Grange; and he spoke the first
words hurriedly, stepping half-unconsciously farther from the maid.

There was a part of the true story of the capture which he did not
tell,--the Governor's part. For the rest, it was all there, every word
about La Grange and his treacherous act coming out almost brutally.

"Your speakers have told you of the hunting party that was taken into
the stone house, and put into chains, and sen