“Their nature does credit to both the heart and head of the Governor of New York.  He makes a personal appeal to me to use all my influence against the war seemingly at hand.  He says that England and France have nothing to gain by attacking each other in the American woods, which are large enough to hide whole European kingdoms.  But he wishes the letters to be a secret with him and me and you three who have brought them.  You understand that?”

Robert bowed once more.

“The second letter explains and amplifies the first, contains, I should say, his afterthoughts.  As I said, ’tis a noble act, but what can I do?  A war may look to many men like a sudden outburst, but it is nearly always the result of conditions that have been a long time in the growth.  Your hunters, your traders and your surveyors pressed forward into the Ohio country, which is ours.”

He looked at them as if he expected them to challenge the French claim to the Ohio regions, but they were wisely silent.

“The letters do not demand an immediate reply,” he continued.  “His Excellency prays me to consider.  Perhaps I shall send one later through a trusted messenger by sloop or schooner to New York, and naturally, I shall choose one of my own officers.”

“Naturally, my lord,” said Robert.  “We did not expect to take back the answer.”

The Marquis Duquesne looked at him very keenly.

“You speak as if you were relieved at not having the errand,” he said.  “Perhaps there is something else on your mind which you wish to do and with which such a mission would interfere.”

Robert was silent and the Marquis laughed.

“I will not press the question, because I’ve no right to do so,” he said.  “But I will let it remain an inference.”

Then his eye rested upon Tayoga, at whom he looked long and searchingly, and the eye of the Onondaga met him with an answering gaze, fixed and unfaltering.

“Captain de Galisonniere has told me,” said the Marquis, “that you are a young chief, or coming chief, of the Iroquois, that despite your youth you have thought much and have influence with your people.  How do the Iroquois feel toward the French who wish them so well?”

“They do not forget that this Quebec is the Stadacona of one of their great warrior nations, the Mohawks,” replied Tayoga.

The Marquis started and flushed.

“Quebec is ours,” he said slowly, after taking due thought.  “You cannot undo what was done two centuries ago.”

“The nations of the Hodenosaunee do not forget, what are two centuries to them?”

“When you return to the Long House in the vale of Onondaga, and the fifty sachems meet in council, tell them Onontio has only kindness in his heart for them.  The war clouds that hang over England and France grow many and thick, and my children are brave and vigilant.  They know the ways of the forest.  They travel by day and by night, and they strike hard.  The English are not a match for them.”