I underrated you, but I underrated you because I did not believe any human being could do what you have done." Tayoga smiled, showing his splendid white teeth.

"Your thoughts did me no wrong," he said in his precise school English, "because the elements and chance itself seemed to have conspired against me." Later he told what he had heard in the vale of Onondaga where the sachems and chiefs kept themselves well informed concerning the movements of the belligerent nations.

The French were still the more active of the rival powers, and their energy and conquests were bringing the western tribes in great numbers to their flag.

Throughout the Ohio country the warriors were on the side of the French who were continuing the construction of the powerful fortress at the junction of the Alleghany and the Monongahela.

The French were far down in the province of New York, and they held control of Lake Champlain and of Lake George also.