Ensign Ward, very red and walking stiffly, went back to the little stockade, where the men had been watching and waiting. It was plain to be seen that he did not know what reply to make. He showed good sense, though, for he held council with Tanacharison and Scarouady and White Thunder, who were older than he. The Hunter and John Davidson translated such words as might not be understood.
“I wish to know what you would do if you were in my place,” he said, to Tanacharison. “I am alone here, with only forty men, of whom but thirty-three are armed. I have no cannon, and but little provisions for a long fight.”
“The French number a thousand, with great guns,” Half-King answered. “Where is your captain, with guns and men, that he does not come to help you?”
“I sent word to him four days ago,” said Ensign Ward. “I know nothing about him.”
“It is a strange thing in Assaragoa to put a handful of men under somebody of no experience in the midst of the woods and leave them to the French,” declared White Thunder. “Where is Washington? He does not fear the French, but that man Trent has gone home a second time without even seeing the French.”
“Do the Mingos tell me to fight the French, and that they will help?” Ensign Ward asked quickly.
“What does Scarouady say?” said Tanacharison.
“Wah!” replied Scarouady—he of the tattooed chest and cheeks. “Were we to fight the French we should have fought them on the river where they could not use their great guns. Then they would have turned back. To fight them now requires a council, and plans; and they have Iroquois brothers with them. That is how it seems to me.”
“Listen,” bade Half-King; and he spoke wisely: “The French may not wish to fight. If they fire and kill men, that means war with the King across the water. This is not Onontio’s land; it is land given to the English for a fort, and the English are here first. To drive them off is war, but to talk is not war. Now I think that Ward should say to the French: ‘I am only a small chief, put here to build a trading house upon land given by the Iroquois, and I know nothing of any wrong in the matter. So I cannot make answer without orders from my captain chief. But my captain chief will be here within a day or two, and he will talk with the French captain.’