pped the stern and awful
waste in the shadows of the tomb.

Having secured his magazines at Raystown, and built a fort there named
Fort Bedford, Bouquet made a forward movement of some forty miles,
crossed the main Alleghany and Laurel Hill, and, taking post on a stream
called Loyalhannon Creek, began another depot of supplies as a base for
the final advance on Fort Duquesne, which was scarcely fifty miles
distant.

Vaudreuil had learned from prisoners the march of Forbes, and, with his
usual egotism, announced to the Colonial Minister what he had done in
consequence. "I have provided for the safety for Fort Duquesne." "I have
sent reinforcements to M. de Ligneris, who commands there." "I have done
the impossible to supply him with provisions, and I am now sending them
in abundance, in order that the troops I may perhaps have occasion to
send to drive off the English may not be delayed." "A stronger fort is
needed on the Ohio; but I cannot build one till after the peace; then I
will take care to build such a one as will thenceforth keep the English
out of that country." Some weeks later he was less confident, and very
anxious for news from Ligneris. He says that he has sent him all the
succors he could, and ordered troops to go to his aid from Niagara,
Detroit, and Illinois, as well as the militia of Detroit, with the
Indians there and elsewhere in the West,--Hurons, Ottawas,
Pottawattamies, Miamis, and other tribes. What he fears is that the
English will not attack the fort till all these Indians have grown tired
of waiting, and have gone home again.[653] This was precisely the
intention of Forbes, and the chief object of his long delays.

[Footnote 653: _Vaudreuil au Ministre, Juillet, Aout, Octobre 1758._]

He had another good reason for making no haste. There was hope that the
Delawares and Shawanoes, who lived within easy reach of Fort Duquesne,
and who for the past three years had spread havoc throughout the English
border, might now be won over from the French alliance. Forbes wrote to
Bouquet from Shippensburg: "After many intrigues with Quakers, the
Provincial Commissioners, the Governor, etc., and by the downright
bullying of Sir William Johnson, I hope I have now brought about a
general convention of the Indians."[654] The convention was to include
the Five Nations, the Delawares, the Shawanoes, and other tribes, who
had accepted wampum belts of invitation, and promised to meet the
Governor and Commission