"Frenchmen were here," he said. "See the trail. They wore moccasins, but
their toes turn out in the white man's fashion."
There was no mistaking the traces, and Robert felt intense satisfaction.
If hostile Indians, led by Frenchmen, were invading the territory of the
Hodenosaunee, then it would be very hard indeed for Duquesne and Bigot
to break up the ancient alliance of the great League with the English.
But he was quite sure that no one of the flying Frenchmen was St. Luc.
The chevalier was too wise to be caught in such a trap, nor would he
lend himself to the savage purposes of Tandakora.
"Behold, Daganoweda," he said, "the sort of friends the French would be
to the Hodenosaunee. When the great warriors of the Six Nations go to
the vale of Onondaga to hear what the fifty sachems will say at their
council, the treacherous Hurons and Caughnawagas, led by white men from
Montreal and Quebec, come into their land, seeking scalps."
The power of golden speech was upon him once more. He felt deeply what
he was saying, and he continued, calling attention to the ancient
friendship of the English, and their long and bitter wars with the
French.
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