ts and Jesuits to
act as royal officers," was the petulant remark of another officer of La
Serre.

A strong prejudice existed in the army against the Abbe Piquet for his
opposition to the presence of French troops in his Indian missionary
villages. They demoralized his neophytes, and many of the officers
shared in the lucrative traffic of fire-water to the Indians. The
Abbe was zealous in stopping those abuses, and the officers complained
bitterly of his over-protection of the Indians.

The famous "King's Missionary," as he was called, stood up with an air
of dignity and authority that seemed to assert his right to be present
in the Council of War, for the scornful looks of many of the officers
had not escaped his quick glance.

The keen black eyes, thin resolute lips, and high swarthy forehead of
the Abbe would have well become the plumed hat of a marshal of France.
His loose black robe, looped up for freedom, reminded one of a grave
senator of Venice whose eye never quailed at any policy, however severe,
if required for the safety of the State.

The Abbe held in his hand a large roll of wampum, the tokens of treaties
made by him with the Indian nations of the West, pledging their alliance
and aid to the great Onontio, as they called the Governor of New France.

"My Lord Governor!" said the Abbe, placing his great roll on the table,
"I thank you for admitting the missionaries to the Council. We appear
less as churchmen on this occasion than as the King's ambassadors,
although I trust that all we have done will redound to God's glory and
the spread of religion among the heathen. These belts of wampum are
tokens of the treaties we have made with the numerous and warlike tribes
of the great West. I bear to the Governor pledges of alliance from the
Miamis and Shawnees of the great valley of the Belle Riviere, which they
call the Ohio. I am commissioned to tell Onontio that they are at peace
with the King and at war with his enemies from this time forth forever.
I have set up the arms of France on the banks of the Belle Riviere, and
claimed all its lands and waters as the just appanage of our sovereign,
from the Alleghanies to the plantations of Louisiana. The Sacs and
Foxes, of the Mississippi; the Pottawatomies, Winnebagoes, and Chippewas
of a hundred bands who fish in the great rivers and lakes of the West;
the warlike Ottawas, who have carried the Algonquin tongue to the
banks of Lake Erie,--in short, all enemies o