Grosvenor knew all the Englishmen, and often in the evenings, since May had now come they sat about the camp fires, and Robert listened with eagerness as they told stories of gay life in London, tales of the theater, of the heavy betting at the clubs and the races, and now and then in low tones some gossip of royalty.  Tayoga was more than welcome in this group, as the great Thayendanegea was destined to be years later.  His height, his splendid appearance, his dignity and his manners were respected and admired.  Willet sometimes sat with them, but said little.  Robert knew that he approved of his new friendships.

Willet was undoubtedly anxious.  The delays which were still numerous weighed heavily upon him, and he confided to Robert that every day lost would increase the danger of the march.

“The French and Indians of course know our troubles,” he said.  “St. Luc has gone like an arrow into the wilderness with all the news about us, and he’s not the only one.  If we could adjust this trouble with the Pennsylvanians we might start at once.”

An hour or two after he uttered his complaint, Robert saw a middle aged man, not remarkable of appearance, talking with Braddock.  His dress was homespun and careless, but his large head was beautifully shaped, and his features, though they might have been called homely, shone with the light of an extraordinary intelligence.  His manner as he talked to Braddock, without showing any tinge of deference, was soothing.  Robert saw at once, despite his homespun dress, that here was a man of the great world and of great affairs.

“Who is he?” he said to Willet.

“It’s Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania,” replied the hunter.  “I hear he’s one of the shrewdest men in all the colonies, and I don’t doubt the report.”

It was Robert’s first sight of Franklin, certainly not the least in that amazing group of men who founded the American Union.

“They say,” continued Willet, “that he’s already achieved the impossible, that he’s drawing General Braddock and the Pennsylvanians together, and that we’ll soon get weapons, horses and all the other supplies we need.”

It was no false news.  Franklin had done what he alone could do.  One of the greatest masters of diplomacy the world has ever known, he brought Braddock and Pennsylvania together, and smoothed out the difficulties.  All the needed supplies began to flow in, and on the tenth of an eventful May the whole army started from Wills Creek to which point it had advanced, while Franklin was removing the difficulties.  A new fort named Cumberland had been established there, and stalwart Virginians had been cutting a road ahead through the wilderness.

The place was on the edge of the unending forest.  The narrow fringe of settlements on the Atlantic coast was left behind, and henceforth they must march through regions known only to the Indians and the woods rangers.  But it was a fine army, two British regiments under Halket and Dunbar, their numbers reinforced by Virginia volunteers, and five hundred other Virginians, divided into nine companies.  There was a company of British sailors, too, and artillery, and hundreds of wagons and baggage horses.  Among the teamsters was a strong lad named Daniel Boone destined to immortality as the most famous of all pioneers.