aga, who first formed the great
League and it was Hayowentha, the Mohawk, who combed the snakes out of
his hair and who strengthened it and who helped him to build it so
firmly that it shall last forever. Brothers are we, and always shall
be."

He touched his forehead in salute, and the Onondaga touched his in
reply.

"Aye, brothers are we," he said, "Mohawk and Onondaga, Onondaga and
Mohawk. The great war of the white kings which draws us in it has
come, but I know that Hayowentha watches over his people, and Tododaho
over his. In the spring when I went forth in the night to fight the
Hurons I gazed off there in the west where shines the great star on
which Tododaho makes his home, and I saw him looking down upon me, and
casting about me the veil of his protection."

Daganoweda looked up at the gleaming blue of the heavens, and his eyes
glittered again. He believed every word that Tayoga said.

"As Tododaho watches over you, so Hayowentha watches over me," he
said, "and he will bring me back in safety and victory from the
St. Lawrence. Farewell again, my brother."

"Farewell once more, Daganoweda!"

The Mohawk chief plunged into the forest, and his fifty warriors
followed him. Like a shadow they were gone, and the waving bushes gave
back no sign that they had ever been. Captain Colden rubbed his eyes
and then laughed.

"I never knew men to vanish so swiftly before," he said, "but last
night was good proof that they were here, and that they came in
time. I suppose it's about the only victory of which we can make
boast."

He spoke the full truth. From the St. Lawrence to the Ohio the border
was already ravaged with fire and sword. Appeals for help were pouring
in from the distant settlements, and the governors of New York,
Pennsylvania and Massachusetts scarcely knew what to do. France had
struck the first blow, and she had struck hard. Young Washington,
defeated by overwhelming numbers, was going back to Virginia, and
Duquesne, the fort of the French at the junction of the Monongahela
and Allegheny, was a powerful rallying place for their own forces and
the swarming Indian bands, pouring out of the wilderness, drawn by the
tales of unlimited scalps and plunder.

The task before Captain Colden's slender force was full of danger. His
numbers might have been five times as great and then they would not
have been too many to build and hold the fort he was sent to build and
hold. But he had no thought of turning