"Me dream that the big coat was mine."
Sir William smiled. "It is yours," said he. "Take it and wear it as a proof of my friendship for you."
Not long afterwards the jovial Baronet visited the wigwams of the Mohawks, and, after lighting the peace pipe, spoke to King Hendrick in the following manner.
"Great Sachem," said he, "I had a big dream last night."
"Ugh! Ugh!" grunted the Mohawk brave. "What did my paleface brother dream?"
The Irishman took up a stick and drew with it upon the ground. "I dreamed that this tract of land was mine," said he, describing a square bounded on the south by the Mohawk river, on the east by Canada Creek, and on the north and west by some well-known hills. "And I would like to have my red-skinned brother present it to me."
Old Hendrick was completely undone, for he saw that this request covered nearly a hundred thousand acres of the finest territory in his possession. But he remembered the gift of that splendid scarlet coat, and, as he thought over the matter, he came to the conclusion that the request was not, after all, such a great one. Finally he arose and stretched out his right arm in the direction of the territory which the Irishman wanted.
"Brother," said he, "the land is yours, but you must never dream again."
Shortly afterwards the title to this property was confirmed by the British Government, and the tract was called the Royal Grant. Sir William thus became one of the largest landholders in America and one of the most prominent Englishmen on the frontier. He trafficked with the Senecas and Mohawks, made a large fortune, and soon erected another mansion, called "The Castle." Here he lived with a fair-haired German girl whom he had married, and was happy and contented until her death. She left him with three small children—one a boy, John, and the others daughters.