ire group stopped, as it became necessary there for
Tayoga, Willet and Robert to say a temporary farewell to the others who
would not advance into the Onondaga town until the full power of the
Hodenosaunee was gathered. The council, as Robert surmised and as he now
learned definitely, had been called by the Onondagas, who had sent
heralds with belts eastward to the Oneidas, who in turn had sent them
yet farther eastward to the Mohawks, westward to the Cayugas whose duty
it was to pass them on to the Senecas yet more to the west. The Oneidas
also gave belts to the Dusgaowehono, or Tuscaroras, the valiant tribe
that had come up from the south forty years before, and that had been
admitted into the Hodenosaunee, turning the Five Nations into the Six,
and receiving lands within the territory of the Oneidas.

Already great numbers of warriors from the different nations, their
chiefs at their head, were scattered about the edges of the valley
awaiting the call of the Onondagas for participation in the Maple Dance,
and the great and fateful council afterward. And since they did not know
whether this council was for peace or for war, every sachem had brought
with him a bundle of white cedar fagots that typified peace, and also a
bundle of red cedar fagots that typified war.

"Farewell, my friends," said Daganoweda, the Mohawk, to Tayoga, Robert
and Willet. "We rest here until the great sachems of the Onondagas send
for us, and yet we are eager to come, because never before was there
such a Maple Dance and never before such a council as these will be."

"You speak true words, Daganoweda," said Robert, "and the Great Bear and
I rejoice that we are adopted sons of the Iroquois and can be here."

Robert spoke from his heart. Not even his arrival at Quebec, great as
had been his anticipations and their fulfillment, had stirred in him
more interest and enthusiasm. The feeling that for the time being he was
an Iroquois in everything except his white skin grew upon him. He saw as
they saw, his pulses beat as theirs beat, and he thought as they
thought. It was not too much for him to think that the fate of North
America might turn upon the events that were to transpire within the
vale of Onondaga within the next few days. Nor was he, despite his
heated brain, and the luminous glow through which he saw everything, far
from the facts.

Robert saw that Willet, despite his years and experience, was deeply
stirred also, and the dark eyes