seem quite natural, then,
that the superintendent should be interested in the career
of Molly's brother Joseph. Born, as the young redskin
was, of princely stock, he might, with such an advantage,
be expected to attain to honour and dignity among the
people of the Long House. There was, however, one obstacle;
although Joseph's father was a chief, he did not inherit
rank, for it was the custom of the Six Nations to trace
descent through the blood of the mother, and his mother,
who had brought him over hill and water from the banks
of the Ohio, was of humble origin. If Joseph wished,
therefore, to rise among his fellows, he must hew out
his own path to greatness. By pluck and wisdom alone
could he win a lasting place in the hearts of his people.
As we tell his story, we shall see how he gathered strength
and became a man of might and of valour.

CHAPTER II

BATTLE OF LAKE GEORGE

No one delighted more in the free and easy life of the
frontier than did Colonel William Johnson. He was a
typical colonial patroon, a representative of the king
and a friend of the red man. The Indians trusted him
implicitly. He had studied their character and knew well
their language. He entered into their life with full
sympathy for their traditions and was said to possess an
influence over them such as had never been gained by any
other white man. For a long time he lived at Fort Johnson,
a three-storey dwelling of stone on the left bank of the
Mohawk, and later at Johnson Hall, a more spacious mansion
several miles farther north. Here all who came were
treated with a lavish hand, and the wayfarer found a
welcome as he stopped to admire the flowers which grew
before the portals. Within were a retinue of servants,
careful for the needs of all. When hearts were sad or
time went slowly, a dwarf belonging to the household
played a merry tune on his violin to drive away gloom
from the wilderness mansion.

On one occasion, however, Johnson's hospitality was taxed
beyond all bounds. This was at Fort Johnson in the year
1755, just after he had been made a major-general in the
colonial militia. The French from Canada had already been
making bold encroachments on territory claimed by the
English to the north and the west. They had erected Fort
Duquesne at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela
rivers, where the great city of Pittsburgh now stands;
they had fortified Niagara; and now they were bidding
defiance to all the Engli