ady. Tandakora was too daring, when he ventured into the lands of
the Ganeagaono. Now, if you gentlemen will be so good as to be our
guests we'll pass the night here, and tomorrow we'll go to Mount
Johnson."

It was agreeable to Robert, Willet and Tayoga, and they spent the
remainder of the day most pleasantly at the bower. Colonel Johnson,
feeling that they were three whom he could trust, talked freely and
unveiled a mind fitted for great affairs.

"I tell you three," he said, "that this will be one of the most
important wars the world has known. To London and Paris we seem lost
in the woods out here, and perhaps at the courts they think little of
us or they do not think at all, but the time must come when the New
World will react upon the Old. Consider what a country it is, with its
lakes, its forests, its rivers, and its fertile lands, which extend
beyond the reckoning of man. The day will arrive when there will be a
power here greater than either England or France. Such a land cannot
help but nourish it."

He seemed to be much moved, and spoke a long time in the same vein,
but his Indian wife never said a word. She moved about now and then,
and, as before, her footsteps making no noise, being as light as those
of any animal of the forest.

The dusk came up to the door. They heard the ripple of the creek, but
could not see its waters. Madam Johnson lighted a wax candle, and
Colonel Johnson stopped suddenly.

"I have talked too much. I weary you," he said.

"Oh, no, sir!" protested Robert eagerly. "Go on! We would gladly
listen to you all night."

"That I think would be too great a weight upon us all," laughed
Colonel Johnson. "You are weary. You must be so from your long
marching and my heavy disquisitions. We'll have beds made for you
three and Joseph here. Molly and I sleep in the next room."

Robert was glad to have soft furs and a floor beneath him, and when he
lay down it was with a feeling of intense satisfaction. He liked
Colonel William Johnson, and knew that he had a friend in him. He was
anxious for advancement in the great world, and he understood what it
was to have powerful support. Already he stood high with the
Hodenosaunee, and now he had found favor with the famous Waraiyageh.

They left in the morning for Mount Johnson, and there were horses for
all except the Indians, although one was offered to Tayoga. But he
declined to ride--the nations of the Hodenosaunee were not horsemen,
and kep