ate, rule here," replied the
young warrior, "but the Hurons dispute their claim."

"I've heard that the Mohawks and the Hurons, who now fight one another,
were once of the same blood."

"It is so. The old men have had it from those who were old men when they
were boys. The Mohawks in a far, far time were a clan of the Wanedote,
called in your language the Hurons, and lived where the French have
built their capital of Quebec. Thence their power spread, and becoming a
great nation themselves they separated from the Wanedote. But many
enemies attacked them and they moved to the south, where they joined the
Onondagas and Oneidas, and in time the League of the Hodenosaunee grew
up. That, though, was far, far back, eight or ten of what the white men
call generations."

"But it's interesting, tremendously so," said Robert, reflectively. "I
find that the red races and the white don't differ much. The flux and
movement have been going on always among them just as it has among us.
Races disappear, and new ones appear."

"It is so, Lennox," said Tayoga gravely, "but the League of the
Hodenosaunee is the chosen of Manitou. We, the Onundagaono, in your
language Onondagas, Keepers of the Council, the Brand and the Wampum,
know it. The power of the Long House cannot be broken. Onundagaono,
Ganeogaono, Nundawaono (Senecas), Gweugwehono (Cayugas), Onayotekaono
(Oneidas) and the new nation that we made our brethren, Dusgaowehono
(Tuscaroras), will defend it forever."

Robert glanced at him. Tayoga's nostrils expanded as he spoke, the chin
was thrown up again and his eyes flashed with a look of immeasurable
pride. White youth understood red youth. The forest could be as truly a
kingdom as cities and fields, and within the limits of his horizon
Tayoga, a coming chief of the clan of the Bear, of the nation Onondaga,
of the League of the Hodenosaunee, was as thoroughly of royal blood as
any sovereign on his throne. He and his father and his father's father
before him and others before them had heard the old men and the women
chant the prowess and invincibility of the Hodenosaunee, and of that
great league, the Onondagas, the Keepers of the Wampum, the Brand and
the Council Fire, were in Tayoga's belief first, its heart and soul.

Robert had pride of race himself--it was a time when an ancient stock
was thought to count for much--and he was sure that the blood in his
veins was noble, but, white though he was, he did not feel any
superi