Daganoweda smiled proudly.  The wise old sachem had struck upon the most responsive chords in his nature.

“I will try to bear myself as a Mohawk should,” he said simply.

Colden and Grosvenor were also there.

“I’m sorry our troop can’t go with you,” said the young Philadelphian, “but I’m not one to question the wisdom and decision of our commander-in-chief.  Doubtless we’d be a drag upon such a band as yours, but I wish we could have gone.  At least, we’ll be with the army which is going to march soon, and perhaps we’ll overtake you at Lake George before many days.”

“And I,” said Grosvenor to Robert and Tayoga, “am serving on the staff of the commander.  I’m perhaps the only Englishman here and I’m an observer more than anything else.  So I could be spared most readily, but the colonel will not let me go.  He says there is no reason why we should offer a scalp without price to Tandakora, the Ojibway.”

“And I abide by what I said,” laughed Colonel Johnson, who heard.  “You’re in conditions new to you, Grosvenor, though you’ve had one tragic and dreadful proof of what the Indians can do, but there’s great stuff in you and I’m not willing to see it thrown away before it’s developed.  Don’t be afraid the French and Indians won’t give you all the fighting you want, though I haven’t the slightest doubt you’ll stand up to it like a man.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Grosvenor, modestly.

The lad, Peter, was also eager to go, and he was soothed only by the promise of Mynheer Jacobus Huysman that he might join the army on the march to Lake George.

Then the leaders gave the word and the hundred foresters, fifty white and fifty red, plunged into the great northern wilderness which stretched through New York into Canada, one of the most beautiful regions on earth, and at that particular time the most dangerous, swarming with ruthless Indians and daring French partisans.

It was remarkable how soon they reached the wilds after leaving Albany.  The Dutch had been along the Hudson for more than a century, and the English had come too, but all of them had clung mostly to the river.  Powerful and warlike tribes roamed the great northern forests, and the French colonies in the north and the English colonies in the south had a healthy respect for the fighting powers of one another.  The doubtful ground between was wide and difficult, and anyone who ventured into it now had peril always beside him.

The forest received the hundred, the white and the red, and hid them at once in its depths.  It was mid-summer, but there was yet no brown on the leaves.  A vast green canopy overhung the whole earth, and in every valley flowed brooks and rivers of clean water coming down from the firm hills.  The few traces made by the white man had disappeared since the war.  The ax was gone, and the scalp-hunters had taken its place.

Robert, vivid of mind, quickly responsive to the externals of nature, felt all the charm and majesty that the wilderness in its mightiest manifestations had for him.  He did not think of danger yet, because he was surrounded by men of so much bravery and skill.  He did not believe that in all the world there was such another hundred, and he was full of pride to be the comrade of such champions.