“Give me the prisoner, Lennox, and I and my warriors stay and fight with you at Ticonderoga.  Refuse him and we go.”

The chief’s words were sharp and decisive and St. Luc understood him.  He knew that the savage Ojibway hated young Lennox intensely, and would put him to the torture.  He never hesitated an instant.

“I cannot yield the prisoner to you,” he said.  “The custom of the French will not permit it.”

“The warriors are a great help in battle, and the reward I ask is but small.  St. Luc knows that Montcalm needs men here.  What is this boy to St. Luc that he refuses so great a price for him?”

“It cannot be done, Tandakora.  I keep the prisoner, Lennox, and later I will send him to Canada to be held there until the war is over.”

“Then the forest to-morrow will swallow up Tandakora and his warriors.”

The chief returned to the fire and lay at ease in his blanket.  St. Luc walked thoughtfully back toward the tent of Montcalm.  He knew that it was his duty to report the offer of Tandakora to his chief, but he did so reluctantly.

“You have refused it already?” said the Marquis.

“I have, sir,” replied St. Luc.

“Then you have done well.  I confirm you in the refusal.”

St. Luc saluted with great respect, and again retired from the tent.

CHAPTER XIII

EVE OF BATTLE

Robert awoke the next morning, well physically, but depressed mentally.  He believed that a great battle—­and a great victory for the Anglo-American army—­was coming, and he would have no part in it.  The losses of Braddock’s defeat and the taking of Fort William Henry by Montcalm would be repaired, once more the flag of his native land and of his ancestral land, would be triumphant, but he would be merely a spectator, even if he were as much as that.  It was a bitter reflection, and again he thought of escape.  But no plan seemed possible.  He was held as firmly in the center of an army, as if he were in the jaws of a powerful vise.  Nor was it possible for Tayoga, however great his skill and daring, to reach him there.  He strove to be philosophical, but it is hard for youth to reconcile itself at first, though it may soon forget.

Breakfast was given to him, and he was permitted to go outside the tent into a small open space, though not beyond.  On all sides of him stretched the impassable lines of the French army.  There were several other prisoners within the enclosure, a ranger, a hunter, and three or four farmers who had been taken in forays farther south.

The fresh air and the brilliant sunshine revived Robert’s spirits.  He looked eagerly about him, striving to divine the French intentions, but he could make nothing of them.  He knew, however, upon reflection, that this would be so.  The French would not put any prisoners in a position to obtain information that would be of great value in the possible event of escape.