Tayoga spoke in his usual precise, book English, explaining everything fully, and Robert said nothing more.  But he awaited the actions of the Onondaga with intense interest.  Tayoga crept forward five or six yards more, and then he stumbled, striking against a bush and shaking it violently.  Robert was amazed.  It was incredible that the Onondaga should be so awkward, and then he remembered.  Tayoga was going to draw the enemy’s fire.

Tayoga struck against another bush, and then stood upright and visible.  Those hidden on the ridge, if such there were, could see him clearly.  The response was immediate.  A gigantic figure stood up among the bushes, leveled a rifle and fired at him point blank.  But the Onondaga, quick as lightning, dropped back and the bullet whistled over his head.  Robert fired at the great painted figure of Tandakora, but he too missed, and in a moment the Ojibway chief sank down in the undergrowth.  A shout came from the hidden Indians about him.

“They are there,” said Tayoga, “and we know just where many of them lie.  We will suggest to Open Eyes that he fire the cannon at that point.”

They rejoined Adams.

“You were right, as I knew you’d be,” said the scout.  “You’ve located ’em.”

“Yes, because Tandakora could not resist his hate of me,” said the Onondaga.

They withdrew to the main force, and once more the brave brass guns were brought up, sending solid shot and grape into the bushes on the ridge, then moving forward and repeating the fire.  Many rifles opened upon them from the thickets, and several men fell, but Elihu Strong held his people in hand, and the scouts drove back the sharpshooters.  Meanwhile the whole force advanced and began to climb the ridge, the cannon being turned on the flanks, where the attack was now heaviest.  A fierce battle ensued, and the guns, served with great skill and effectiveness, kept the Indians at bay.  More of Strong’s men were slain and many were hit, but their own rifles backed up the guns with a deadly fire.  Thus the combat was waged in the thickets a full two hours, when they heard a great shout toward the north, and Willet, at the head of a hundred men, broke his way through to their relief.  Then French and Indians drew off, and the united forces proceeded to the point, where Colden, Wilton, Carson and Grosvenor gave them a great welcome.

“We are here,” said Elihu Strong.  “If the Governor and Legislature of Massachusetts had done their full duty we might have been here sooner, but here we are.”

“I knew that you would come back and bring help with you,” said Grosvenor to Robert.  “I felt sure that Tayoga would guide the canoe through every peril.”

“Your confidence was not misplaced,” said Robert.  “He did some wonderful work.  He was as great a trailer on the water as he is on land.  Now that we are so much stronger, I wonder what St. Luc is going to do.”

But Black Rifle came in the next morning with the news that the Chevalier and his whole force were gone.