He might arrive in the vale of Onondaga
and have to wait many days before the fifty sachems should decide to
meet in council and hear him.
But Robert believed that if St. Luc should appear before the fifty he
would prove to be eloquent, and he would neglect no artifice of word and
manner to make the Hodenosaunee think the French power at Quebec
invincible. He would describe the great deeds of the French officers and
soldiers. He would tell them of that glittering court of Versailles, and
perhaps he would make them think their salvation depended upon an
alliance with France.
Robert was sorry for the moment that his mission was taking him to
Quebec and not to the vale of Onondaga, where Willet and he--and Tayoga
too--could appear before the sachems as friends true and tested, and
prove to them that the English were their good and natural allies. They
would recall again what Frontenac had done. They would dwell upon the
manner in which he had carried sword and fire among the Six Nations,
then the Five, and they would keep open the old wound that yet rankled.
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