Rifles and muskets were stacked in French fashion and the clank, clank that Robert had heard had been made by the warriors as they put up their weapons.
Many were talking freely and seemed to rejoice in the food and fires.

It was Robert's surmise that they had arrived but recently and were weary.
Their numbers were large, they certainly could not be less than four or five hundred, and his experience was great enough now to tell him that half of them, at least, were Canadian Indians.

All were in war paint, and they had an abundance of arms.
Robert's eager eye sought Tandakora, but did not find him.

He had no doubt, however, that this great body of warriors was moving against Rogers and his rangers, and that it would soon be joined by the Ojibway chief.

Tandakora, anxious for revenge upon the Great Bear and the Mountain Wolf, would be willing to leave Montcalm for a while if he thought that by doing so he could achieve his purpose.