The Rulers of the Lakes: A Story of George and Champlain

by Joseph A. Altsheler

  CHAPTER VII

  ON THE GREAT TRAIL

  Robert appreciated fully all the dangers they were sure to encounterupon their perilous expedition to the lakes. Having the gift ofimagination, he saw them in their most alarming colors, but having abrave heart also, he was more than willing, he was eager to encounterthem with his chosen comrades by his side. The necessity of strikingsome quick and sharp blow became more apparent every hour, or the lakes,so vital in the fortunes of the war, would soon pass into the completepossession of the French and Indians.

  The band was chosen and equipped with the utmost care. It included, ofcourse, all of Rogers' rangers, Robert, Tayoga, Willet and Black Rifle,making a total of fifty white men, all of tried courage and inured tothe forest. Besides there were fifty Mohawks under Daganoweda, the verypick of the tribe, stalwart warriors, as tough as hickory, experiencedin every art of wilderness trail and war, and eager to be at the foe.Every white man was armed with a rifle, a pistol, a hatchet and a knife,carrying also a pouch containing many bullets, a large horn of powder, ablanket folded tightly and a knapsack full of food. The Mohawks werearmed to the teeth in a somewhat similar fashion, and, it beingmidsummer and the weather warm, they were bare to the waist. Rogers, theranger, was in nominal command of the whole hundred, white and red, butWillet and Daganoweda in reality were on an equality, and since thethree knew one another well and esteemed one another highly they weresure to act in perfect coordination. Black Rifle, it was understood,would go and come as he pleased. He was under the orders of no man.

  "I give you no instructions," said Colonel William Johnson to the threeleaders, "because I know of none to be given under such circumstances.No man can tell what awaits you in the forest and by the lakes. I merelyask you in God's name to be careful! Do not walk into any trap! And yet'tis foolish of me to warn Robert Rogers, David Willet, Black Rifle andDaganoweda, four foresters who probably haven't their equal in all NorthAmerica. But we can ill afford to lose you. If you do not see your wayto strike a good blow perhaps it would be better to come back and marchwith the army."

  "You don't mean that, William, old friend," said Willet, smiling andaddressing him familiarly by his first name. "In your heart you would beashamed of us if we returned without achieving at least one good deedfor our people. And turning from William, my old friend, to ColonelWilliam Johnson, our commander, I think I can promise that a high deedwill be achieved. Where could you find a hundred finer men than these,fifty white and fifty red?"

  Daganoweda, who understood him perfectly, smiled proudly and glanced atthe ranks of Mohawks who stood impassive, save for their eager, burningeyes.

  "But be sure to bring back the good lads, Robert and Tayoga," saidMynheer Jacobus Huysman, who stood with Colonel William Johnson. "Iwould keep them from going, if I could, but I know I cannot and perhapsI am proud of them, because I know they will not listen to me."

  King Hendrik of the Mohawks, in his gorgeous colored clothes, was alsopresent, his bronzed and aged face lighted up with the warlike gleamfrom his eyes. Evidently his mind was running back over the countlessforays and expeditions he had led in the course of fifty years. Helonged once more for the forests, the beautiful lakes and the great wartrail. His seventy years had not quenched his fiery spirit, but they hadtaken much of his strength, and so he would abide with the army, goingwith it on its slow march.

  "My son," he said, with the gravity and dignity of an old Indian sachem,to Daganoweda, "upon this perilous chance you carry the honor andfortune of the Ganeagaono, the great warlike nation of the Hodenosaunee.It is not necessary for me to bid you do your duty and show to the GreatBear, the Mountain Wolf, Black Rifle and the other white men that ayoung Mohawk chief will go where any other will go, and if need be willdie with all his men before yielding a foot of ground. I do not bid youdo these things because I know that you will do them without any wordsfrom me, else you would not be a Mohawk chief, else you would not beDaganoweda, son of fire and battle."

  Daganoweda smiled proudly. The wise old sachem had struck upon the mostresponsive 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 ourcommander-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 isgoing to march soon, and perhaps we'll overtake you at Lake Georgebefore many days."

  "And I," said Grosvenor to Robert and Tayoga, "am serving on the staffof the commander. I'm perhaps the only Englishman here and I'm anobserver more than anything else. So I could be spared most readily, butthe colonel will not let me go. He says there is no reason why we shouldoffer 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 onetragic and dreadful proof of what the Indians can do, but there's greatstuff in you and I'm not willing to see it thrown away before it'sdeveloped. Don't be afraid the French and Indians won't give you all thefighting you want, though I haven't the slightest doubt you'll stand upto it like a man."

  "Thank you, sir," said Grosvenor, modestly.

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

  Then the leaders gave the word and the hundred foresters, fifty whiteand fifty red, plunged into the great northern wilderness whichstretched through New York into Canada, one of the most beautifulregions 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 theEnglish had come too, but all of them had clung mostly to the river.Powerful and warlike tribes roamed the great northern forests, and theFrench colonies in the north and the English colonies in the south had ahealthy respect for the fighting powers of one another. The doubtfulground between was wide and difficult, and anyone who ventured into itnow had peril always beside him.

  The forest received the hundred, the white and the red, and hid them atonce in its depths. It was mid-summer, but there was yet no brown on theleaves. A vast green canopy overhung the whole earth, and in everyvalley flowed brooks and rivers of clean water coming down from the firmhills. The few traces made by the white man had disappeared since thewar. 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 mightiestmanifestations had for him. He did not think of danger yet, because hewas surrounded by men of so much bravery and skill. He did not believethat in all the world there was such another hundred, and he was full ofpride to be the comrade of such champions.

  Daganoweda and the Mohawks reverted at once to the primitive, from whichthey had never departed much. The young Mohawk chieftain was in advancewith Willet. He had a blanket but it was folded and carried in a smallpack on his back. He was bare to the waist and his mighty chest waspainted in warlike fashion. All his warriors were in similar attire orlack of it.

  Daganoweda was happy. Robert saw his black eyes sparkling, and hecontinually raised his nose to scent the wind like some hunting animal.Robert knew that in his fierce heart he was eager for the sight of ahostile band. The enemy could not come too soon for Daganoweda and theMohawks. Tayoga's face showed the same stern resolve, but the Onondaga,more spiritual than the Mohawk, lacked the fierceness of Daganoweda.

  When they were well into the wilderness they stopped and held aconsultation, in which Rogers, Willet, Black Rifle, Daganoweda, Robertand Tayoga shared. They were to decide a question of vitalimportance--their line of march. They believed that Dieskau and the mainFrench army had not yet rea
ched Crown Point, the great French fortresson Lake Champlain, but there was terrible evidence that the swarms ofhis savage allies were not only along Champlain but all around LakeGeorge, and even farther south. Unquestionably the French partisanleaders were with them, and where and when would it be best for theAmerican-Iroquois force to strike?

  "I think," said Willet, "that St. Luc himself will be here. The Marquisde Vaudreuil, the new Governor General of Canada, knows his merit andwill be sure to send him ahead of Dieskau."

  Robert felt the thrill that always stirred him at the mention of St.Luc's name. Would they meet once more in the forest? He knew that if theChevalier came all their own skill and courage would be needed to meethim on equal terms. However kindly St. Luc might feel toward him hewould be none the less resolute and far-seeing in battle against theEnglish and Americans.

  "I think we should push for the western shore of Andiatarocte," saidWillet. "What is your opinion, Daganoweda?"

  "The Great Bear is right. He is nearly always right," replied theMohawk. "If we go along the eastern shore and bear in toward Champlainwe might be trapped by the French and their warriors. West ofAndiatarocte the danger to us would not be so great, while we would havean equal chance to strike."

  "Well spoken, Daganoweda," said Rogers. "I agree with you that for thepresent it would be wise for us to keep away from Oneadatote (the Indianname for Lake Champlain) and keep to Andiatarocte. The Indians are armedat Crown Point on Oneadatote, which was once our own Fort SaintFrederick, founded by us, but plenty of them spread to the westward andwe'll be sure to have an encounter."

  The others were of a like opinion, and the line of march was quicklyarranged. Then they settled themselves for the night, knowing there wasno haste, as the French and Indians would come to meet them, but knowingalso there was always great need of caution, since if their foes weresure to come it was well to know just when they would come. The Mohawksasked for the watch, meaning to keep it with three relays of a dozenwarriors each, a request that Rogers and Willet granted readily, and allthe white forest runners prepared for sleep, save the strange andterrible man whom they commonly called Black Rifle.

  Black Rifle, whose story was known in some form along the whole border,was a figure with a sort of ominous fascination for Robert, who couldnot keep from watching him whenever he was within eye-shot. He hadnoticed that the man was restless and troubled at Albany. The presenceof so many people and the absence of the wilderness appeared to vex him.But since they had returned to the forest his annoyance and uneasinesswere gone. He was confident and assured, he seemed to have grown greatlyin size, and he was a formidable and menacing figure.

  Black Rifle did not watch with the Mohawk sentinels, but he wascontinually making little trips into the forest, absences of ten orfifteen minutes, and whenever he returned his face bore a slight look ofdisappointment. Robert knew it was because he had found no Indian sign,but to the lad himself the proof that the enemy was not yet near gavepeace. He was eager to go on the great war trail, but he was not fond ofbloodshed, though to him more perhaps than to any other was given thevision of a vast war, and of mighty changes with results yet moremighty flowing from those changes. His heart leaped at the belief thathe should have a part in them, no matter how small the part.

  He lay on the grass with his blanket beneath him, his head on a pillowof dead leaves. Not far away was Tayoga, already asleep. They had builtno fires, and as the night was dark the bronze figures of the Indiansentinels soon grew dim. Rogers and Willet also slept, but Robert stilllay there awake, seeing many pictures through his wide-open eyes,Quebec, the lost Stadacona of the Mohawks, the St. Lawrence, Tandakora,the huge Ojibway who had hunted him so fiercely, St. Luc, De Courcelles,and all the others who had passed out of his life for a while, though hefelt now, with the prescience of old King Hendrik, that they were comingback again. His path would lie for a long time away from cities and thegay and varied life that appealed to him so much, and would lead oncemore through the wilderness, which also appealed to him, but in anotherway. Hence when he slept his wonderfully vivid imagination did notpermit him to sleep as soundly as the others.

  He awoke about midnight and sat up on his blanket, looking around at thesleeping forms, dim in the darkness. He distinguished Tayoga near him,just beyond him the mighty figure of Willet, then that of Rogers,scarcely less robust, and farther on some of the white men. He did notsee Black Rifle, but he felt sure that he was in the forest, looking forthe signs of Indians and hoping to find them. Daganoweda also wasinvisible and it was likely that the fiery young Mohawk chief wasoutside the camp on an errand similar to that of Black Rifle. He wasable to trace on the outskirts the figures of the sentinels, shadowy andalmost unreal in the darkness, but he knew that the warriors of theGaneagaono watched with eyes that saw everything even in the dusk, andlistened with ears that heard everything, whether night or day.

  He fell again into a doze or a sort of half sleep in which Tarenyawagon,the sender of dreams, made him see more pictures and see them muchfaster than he ever saw them awake. The time of dreams did not last morethan half an hour, but in that period he lived again many years of hislife. He passed once more through many scenes of his early boyhood whenWillet was teaching him the ways of the forest. He met Tayoga anew forthe first time, together they went to the house of Mynheer JacobusHuysman in Albany, and together they went to the school of AlexanderMcLean; then he jumped over a long period and with Willet and Tayoga hadhis first meeting with St. Luc and Tandakora. He was talking to theFrenchman when he came out of that period of years which was yet lessthan an hour, and sat up.

  All the others save the sentinels were asleep, but his delicate senseswarned him that something was moving in the forest. It was at first aninstinct rather than anything seen or heard, but soon he traced againstthe misty background of the dusk the shadowy figures of moving Mohawks.He saw the tall form of Daganoweda, who had come back from the forest,and who must have come because he had something to tell. Then he madeout behind the Mohawk chief, Black Rifle, and, although he could notsee his features, the white man nevertheless looked swart and menacing,an effect of the day carried over into the night.

  It was Robert's first impulse to lie down again and pretend not to know,but he remembered that he was in the full confidence of them all, atrusted lieutenant, welcomed at any time, anywhere, and so remembering,he arose and walked on light foot to the place where Daganoweda stoodtalking with the others. The Mohawk chief gave him one favoring glance,telling him he was glad that he had come. Then he returned his attentionto a young Indian warrior who stood alert, eager and listening.

  "Haace (Panther), where did you find the sign that someone had passed?"he asked.

  "Two miles to the north _Gao_ (the wind) brought me a sound," repliedHaace. "It was light. It might have been made by the boughs of _Oondote_(a tree) rubbing together, but the ears of Haace told him it was not so.I crept through _Gabada_ (the forest) to the place, whence the sound hadcome, and lo! it and whatever had made it were gone, but I found amongthe bushes traces to show that moccasins had passed."

  Fire leaped up in the black eyes of Daganoweda.

  "Did you follow?" he asked.

  "For a mile, and I found other traces of moccasins passing. The tracesmet and fused into one trail. All the owners of the moccasins knelt anddrank at a _Dushote_ (a spring), and as they were very thirsty they musthave come far."

  "How do you know, Haace?"

  "Because the imprints of their knees were sunk deep in the earth,showing that they drank long and with eagerness. _Oneganosa_ (the water)was sweet to their lips, and they would not have drunk so long had theynot been walking many miles. I would have followed further, but I feltthat I should come back and tell to my chief, Daganoweda, what I hadseen."

  "You have done well, Haace. Some day the Panther will turn into achief."

  The black eyes of the young warrior flashed with pleasure, but he saidnothing, silence becoming him when he was receiving precious words ofpraise from h
is leader.

  "I saw sign of the savages too," said Black Rifle. "I came upon thecoals of a dead fire about two days' old. By the side of it I foundthese two red beads that had dropped from the leggings or moccasins ofsome warrior. I've seen beads of this kind before, and they all comefrom the French in Canada."

  "Then," said Robert, speaking for the first time, "you've no doubt theenemy is near?"

  "None in the world," replied Black Rifle, "but I think they're goingwest, away from us. It's not likely they know yet we're here, but solarge a band as ours can't escape their notice long."

  "If they did not find that we are here," said Daganoweda proudly, "wewould soon tell it to them ourselves, and in such manner that they wouldremember it."

  "That we would," said Black Rifle, with equal emphasis. "Now, what doyou think, Daganoweda? Should we wake the Great Bear and the MountainWolf?"

  "No, Black Rifle. Let them sleep on. They will need tomorrow the sleepthey get tonight. Man lives by day in the sleep that he has at night,and we wish the eyes of them all to be clear and the arms of them all tobe strong, when the hour of battle, which is not far away, comes to us."

  "You're right, Daganoweda, right in both things you say, right that theyneed all their strength, and right that we'll soon meet St. Luc, at thehead of the French and Indians, because I'm as sure as I know that I'mstanding here that he's now leading 'em. Shall we finish out the nighthere, and then follow on their trail until we can bring 'em to battle onterms that suit us?"

  "Yes, Black Rifle. That is what the Great Bear and the Mountain Wolfwould say too, and so I shall not awake them. Instead, I too will go tosleep."

  Daganoweda, as much a Viking as any that ever lived in Scandinavia, laydown among his men and went quickly to the home over which Tarenyawagonpresided. Haace, filled with exultation that he had received the highapproval of his chief, slid away among the trees on another scout, and,in like manner, the forest swallowed up Black Rifle. Once more the campwas absolutely silent, only the thin and shadowy figures of the bronzesentinels showing through the misty gloom. Robert lay down again andTarenyawagon, the sender of dreams, held him in his spell. His excitedbrain, even in sleep, was a great sensitive plate, upon which pictures,vivid and highly colored, were passing in a gorgeous procession.

  Now, Tarenyawagon carried him forward and not back. They met St. Luc inbattle, and it was dark and bloody. How it ended he did not know,because a veil was dropped over it suddenly, and then he was in theforest with Tayoga, fleeing for his life once more from Tandakora, DeCourcelles and their savage band. Nor was it given to him to know howthe pursuit ended, because the veil fell again suddenly, and when it waslifted he was in a confused and terrible battle not far from a lake,where French soldiers, American soldiers and English soldiers weremingled in horrible conflict. For some strange reason, one that hewondered at then, he stood among the French, but while he wondered, andwhile the combat increased in ferocity the veil slipped down and it wasall gone like a mist. Then came other pictures, vivid in color, butvague in detail, that might or might not be scenes in his future life,and he awoke at last to find the dawn had come.

  Tayoga was already awake and handed him a piece of venison.

  "Eat, Dagaeoga," he said, "and drink at the little spring in the wood onour right. I have learned what Haace and Black Rifle saw in the night,and we march in half an hour."

  Robert did more than drink at the spring; he also bathed his face, neckand hands at the little brook that ran away from it, and althoughTarenyawagon had been busy shifting his kaleidoscope before him while heslept, he was as much refreshed as if he had slumbered without dreams.The dawn, clear but hot in the great forest, brought with it zeal andconfidence. They would follow on the trail of the French and Indianleaders, and he believed, as surely as a battle came, that Willet,Rogers, Daganoweda and their men would be the victors.

  As soon as the brief and cold breakfast was finished the hundreddeparted silently. The white rangers wore forest dress dyed green thatblended with the foliage, and the Mohawks still wore scarcely anythingat all. It was marvelous the way in which they traveled, and it wouldnot have been possible to say that white man or red man was the better.Robert heard now and then only the light brush of a moccasin. A hundredmen flitted through the greenwood and they passed like phantoms.

  In a brief hour they struck the trail that Haace had found, and followedit swiftly, but with alert eyes for ambush. Presently other littletrails flowed into it, some from the east, and some from the west, andthe tributaries included imprints, which obviously were those of whitemen. Then the whole broad trail, apparently a force of about onehundred, curved back toward the west.

  "They go to Andiatarocte," said Daganoweda. "Perhaps they meet anotherforce there."

  "It's probably so," said Willet. "Knowing that our army is about toadvance they wouldn't come to the southwest shore of the lake unlessthey were in strength. I still feel that St. Luc is leading them, butother Frenchmen are surely with him. It behooves us to use all thecaution of which white men and red together are capable. In truth, theremust be no ambush for us. Besides the loss which we should suffer itwould be a terrible decrease of prestige for it to be known that theMountain Wolf and Daganoweda, the most warlike of all the chiefs of theGaneagaono, were trapped by the French and their savage allies."

  Willet spoke artfully and the response was instantaneous. The greatchest of Daganoweda swelled, and a spark leaped from his eyes.

  "It will never be told of us," he said, "because it cannot happen. Thereare not enough of the French and their savage allies in the world totrap the Great Bear, the Mountain Wolf, Daganoweda, and the lads Tayogaand Dagaeoga."

  Willet smiled. It was the reply that he had expected. Moreover, both hiswords and those of the chief were heard by many warriors, and he knewthat they would respond in every fiber to the battle cry of theirleader. His contemptuous allusion to the allies of the French as"savages" met a ready response in their hearts, since the nations of theHodenosaunee considered themselves civilized and enlightened, which, intruth, they were in many respects.

  Robert always remembered the place at which they held their briefcouncil. They stood in a little grove of oaks and elms, clear ofunderbrush. The trees were heavy with foliage, and the leaves were yetgreen. The dawn had not yet fully come, and the heavens, save low downin the east, were still silver, casting a silvery veil which gave anextraordinary and delicate tint to the green of foliage. In the distanceon the right was the gleam of water, silver like the skies, but it wasone of the beautiful lakelets abundant in that region and not yetAndiatarocte, which was still far away. The bronze figures of theIndians, silent and impassive as they listened to their chief, fittedwonderfully into the wilderness scene, and the white men in forestgreen, their faces tanned and fierce, were scarcely less wild in lookand figure. Robert felt once more a great thrill of pride that he hadbeen chosen a member of such a company.

  They talked less than five minutes. Then Black Rifle, alone as usualbecause he preferred invariably to be alone, disappeared in the woods tothe right of the great trail. Three young warriors, uncommonly swift offoot, soon followed him, and three more as nimble of heel as the others,sank from sight in the forest to the left. Both right and left soonswallowed up several of the rangers also, who were not inferior asscouts and trailers to the Mohawks.

  "The wings of our force are protected amply now," said Tayoga, in hisprecise school English. "When such eyes as those of our flankers arelooking and watching, no ambush against us is possible. Now our mainforce will advance with certainty."

  Twenty men had been sent out as scouts and the remaining eighty, eagerfor combat, white and red, advanced on the main trail, not fast butsteadily. Now and then the cries of bird or beast, signals from theflankers, came from right or left, and the warriors with Daganowedaresponded.

  "They are telling us," said Tayoga to Robert, "that they have not yetfound a hostile presence. The enemy has left behind him no skirmishersor rear guard. It may be tha
t we shall not overtake them until weapproach the lake or reach it."

  "How do you know that we will overtake them at all, Tayoga? They may goso fast that we can't come up."

  "I know it, Dagaeoga, because if they are led by St. Luc, and I thinkthey are, they will not try to get away. If they believe we are notabout to overtake them they will wait for us at some place they considergood."

  "You're probably right, Tayoga, and it's likely that we'll be in battlebefore night. One would think there is enough country here on thiscontinent for the whole world without having the nations making war overany part of it. As I have said before, here we are fighting to securefor an English king or a French king mountains and lakes and rivers andforests which neither of them will ever see, and of the existence ofwhich, perhaps, they don't know."

  "And as I have told you before, Dagaeoga, the mountains and lakes andrivers and forests for which the English and French kings have theirpeople fight, belong to neither, but to the great League of theHodenosaunee and other red nations."

  "That's true, Tayoga. Sometimes I'm apt to forget it, but you know I'm afriend of the Hodenosaunee. If I had the power I'd see that never anacre of their country was filched from them by the white men."

  "I know it well, Dagaeoga."

  The pursuit continued all the morning, and the great trail left by theFrench and Indians broadened steadily. Other trails flowed into andmerged with it, and it became apparent that the force pursued was largerthan the force pursuing. Yet Willet, Rogers and Daganoweda did notflinch, clinging to the trail, which now led straight towardAndiatarocte.