It was Napoleon who said later that "Men are nothing, a man is everything," but America, as well as England, knew that in the Seven Years' War Pitt, in himself, was more than an army--he was a host.

And America as well as England has known ever since that there was never a greater Englishman, and that he was an architect who built mightily for both.
The future was not wholly veiled to Robert as he looked down anew upon the glittering waters of Andiatarocte.

He had come in contact with the great forces that were at work, he had vision anew and greater vision, and he knew the gigantic character of the stakes for which men played.
If the French triumphed here in America, then the old Bourbon monarchy, which Willet told him was so diseased and corrupt, would appear triumphant to all the world.

It would invent new tyrannies, the cause of liberty and growth would be set back generations, and nobody would be trodden under the heel more than the French people themselves.

Robert liked the French, and sometimes the thought occurred to him that the English and Americans were fighting not only their own battle but that of the French as well.
He knew as he stood with Willet and Tayoga looking at Lake George that the great crisis of the war was at hand.