der he had set out
to reconnoitre the enemy's position, and proceeded in
the direction of Campbell's house with a small body of
men. When about a mile away, he concealed himself behind
some thick shrubbery on the crest of a hillock. As he
peered through the tangled foliage his view was obscured,
and he descried what seemed to him to be a battalion of
troops marching near the house. This was nothing more than
a number of boys with wooden guns in their hands playing
at soldiers and parading in great glee upon the grassy
sward beside the fortified house; but so well did they
perform that Brant imagined they were soldiers training
for active service in the war. 'Colonel Campbell has got
his house well guarded, I perceive,' he said, turning
about and addressing his followers. Thinking that it
would be folly to venture near the spot with his slender
force, Brant decided to retire and he took the road
leading towards the Mohawk river. The same evening, as
he lay in wait with his men behind a large boulder, two
horsemen approached. One was an officer named Wormwood,
the other a settler. Without having suspected an ambush,
they suddenly found themselves in the clutches of an enemy.
In the struggle Lieutenant Wormwood met his death, much
to Brant's sorrow, as they had been good friends before
the war. After this event the chief returned to Oquaga.

As the weeks passed, his following on the Susquehanna
grew apace. The name of the great War Chief had a charm
about it that drew to his command warriors from every
part of the forest. Little wonder that the settlers became
more and more alarmed. At length they resolved to try to
negotiate peace with him. One of their number, Nicholas
Herkimer, decided to go to the Susquehanna and there have
an interview with the chief himself. Herkimer was a
citizen noted for his integrity and had been made a
brigadier-general in the provincial army. He had formerly
lived three miles from Brant, when his home was on the
upper Mohawk, and knew him well. Nothing has ever been
said to show that Herkimer lacked courage. But he was
vain enough to think that a few words from him might
weaken Brant's steadfast loyalty. Furthermore, like too
many frontiersmen of his day, he held the Indian race in
little esteem and, as we shall see, he did not scruple
to treat them with the basest kind of treachery. The plea
may be made that he was apprehensive of duplicity on the
part of the Mohawk chief, but this doe