Later he told what he had heard in the vale of Onondaga where the sachems and chiefs kept themselves well informed concerning the movements of the belligerent nations.  The French were still the more active of the rival powers, and their energy and conquests were bringing the western tribes in great numbers to their flag.  Throughout the Ohio country the warriors were on the side of the French who were continuing the construction of the powerful fortress at the junction of the Alleghany and the Monongahela.  The French were far down in the province of New York, and they held control of Lake Champlain and of Lake George also.  More settlements had been cut off, and more women and children had been taken prisoners into Canada.

But the British colonies and Great Britain too would move, so Tayoga said.  They were slow, much slower than Canada, but they had the greater strength and the fifty sachems in the vale of Onondaga knew it.  They could not be moved from their attitude of friendliness toward the English, and the Mohawks openly espoused the English side.  The American, Franklin, was very active, and a great movement against Fort Duquesne would be begun, although it might not start until next spring.  An English force under an English general was coming across the sea, and the might of England was gathering for a great blow.

The Onondaga had few changes in the situation to report, but he at least brought news of the outside world, driving away from the young soldiers the feeling that they were cut off from the human race.  Wilton was present when he was telling of these things and when he had finished Robert asked: 

“How did you make your way through the great snow, Tayoga?”

“It is well to think long before of difficulties,” he replied.  “Last year when the winter was finished I hid a pair of snow shoes in this part of the forest, and when the deep snow came I found them and used them.”

Robert glanced at Wilton, whose eyes were widening.

“And the great rain and flood, how did you meet that obstacle?” asked Robert.

“That, too, was forethought.  I have two canoes hidden in this region, and it was easy to reach one of them, in which I traveled with speed and comfort, until I could use it no longer.  Then I hid it away again that it might help me another time.”

“And what did you do when the hurricane came, tearing up the bushes, cutting down the trees, and making the forest as dangerous as if it were being showered by cannon balls?”

“I crept under a wide ledge of stone in the side of a hill, where I lay snug, dry and safe.”

Wilton looked at Tayoga and Robert, and then back at the Onondaga.

“Is this wizardry?” he cried.

“No,” replied Robert.

“Then it’s singular chance.”

“Nor that either.  It was the necessities that confronted Tayoga in the face of varied dangers, and my knowledge of what he would be likely to do in either case.  Merely a rather fortunate use of the reasoning faculties, Will.”