Each was absorbed in his own thoughts and Robert had much to think about.
The war was going slowly.

He had believed a great flare would come at once and that everybody would soon be in the thick of action, but since young Washington had been defeated by Coulon de Villiers at the Great Meadows the British Colonies had spent much time debating and pulling in different directions.

The union for which his eager soul craved did not come, and the shadow of the French power in the north, reinforced by innumerable savages, hung heavy and black over the land.

Every runner brought news of French activities.

Rumor painted as impregnable the fort they had built where two rivers uniting formed the Ohio, and it was certain that many bands already ranged down in the regions the English called their own.
Spring had lingered far into summer where they were, and the foliage was not yet touched by heat.