The Shadow of the North | Page 4

It was made by a foot clothed in a
moccasin, a large foot, a very large foot, the foot of a man whom we all
have cause to hate."
"I take it you're speaking of Tandakora, the Ojibway."
"None other. I cannot be mistaken. But the trail was cold. He and his
warriors have gone north. They may be thirty, forty miles from here."
"Likely enough, Tayoga. They're on their way to join the force the
French are sending to the fort at the junction of the Monongahela and
the Alleghany. Perhaps St. Luc--and there isn't a cleverer officer in this
continent--is with them. I tell you, Tayoga, and you too, Robert, I don't
like it! That young Washington ought to have been sent earlier into the
Ohio country, and they should have given him a much larger force.
We're sluggards and all our governors are sluggards, except maybe
Shirley of Massachusetts. With the war just blazing up the French are
already in possession, and we're to drive 'em out, which doubles our
task. It was a great victory for us to keep the Hodenosaunee on our side,
or, in the main, neutral, but it's going to be uphill work for us to win.
The young French leaders are genuine kings of the wilderness. You

know that, Robert, as well as I do."
"Yes," said the youth. "I know they're the men whom the English
colonies have good cause to fear."
When he spoke he was thinking of St. Luc, as he had last seen him in
the vale of Onondaga, defeated in the appeal to the fifty sachems, but
gallant, well bred, showing nothing of chagrin, and sure to be a
formidable foe on the field of battle. He was an enemy of whom one
could be proud, and Robert felt an actual wish to see him again, even
though in opposing ranks.
"We may come into contact with some of 'em," said the hunter. "The
French are using all their influence over the Indians, and are directing
their movements. I know that St. Luc, Jumonville, Beaujeu, Dumas, De
Villiers, De Courcelles and all their best men are in the forest. It's likely
that Tandakora, fierce and wild as he is, is acting under the direction of
some Frenchman. St. Luc could control him."
Robert thought it highly probable that the chevalier was in truth with
the Indians on the border, either leading some daring band or gathering
the warriors to the banner of France. His influence with them would be
great, as he understood their ways, adapted himself to them and showed
in battle a skill and daring that always make a powerful appeal to the
savage heart. The youth had matched himself against St. Luc in the test
of words in the vale of Onondaga, and now he felt that he must match
himself anew, but in the test of forest war.
Tayoga having lighted the fire, the hunter cooked the food over it,
while the two youths reposed calmly. Robert watched Willet with
interest, and he was impressed for the thousandth time by his great
strength, and the lightness of his movements. When he was younger,
the disparity in years had made him think of Willet as an old man, but
he saw now that he was only in early middle age. There was not a gray
hair on his head, and his face was free from wrinkles.
An extraordinarily vivid memory of that night in Quebec when the
hunter had faced Boucher, the bully and bravo, reputed the best

swordsman of France, leaped up in Robert's mind. He had found no
time to think of Willet's past recently and he realized now that he knew
little about it. The origin of that hunter was as obscure as his own. But
the story of the past and its mysteries must wait. The present was so
great and overwhelming that it blotted out everything else.
"The venison and the bacon are ready," said Willet, "and you two lads
can fall on. You're not what I'd call epicures, but I've never known your
appetites to fail."
"Nor will they," said Robert, as he and Tayoga helped themselves.
"What's the news from Britain, Dave? You must have heard a lot when
you were in Albany."
"It's vague, Robert, vague. The English are slow, just as we Americans
are, too. They're going to send out troops, but the French have
dispatched a fleet and regiments already. The fact that our colonies are
so much larger than theirs is perhaps an advantage to them, as it gives
them a bigger target to aim at, and our people who are trying to till their
farms, will be struck down by their Indians from ambush."
"And you see now what a bulwark the great League