“You can do no good, and the French will keep you and send you to Onontio; or else the Huron will eat you.”
“I go,” repeated the Hunter. “You can wait here and see what happens, and then you can tell Scarouady.”
The Buck laughed.
“Wah! You are a boy but you are brave. You speak my own mind. We will go in together. We are Mingo, and the French try to make friends of the Mingo. They and the Ottawa and Huron will pretend to be glad to see us. Let us wipe off our paint. Come, and we shall fool them.”
The Buck stood up, and with Robert at his heels went right down for the enemy camp.
XVI
IN AND OUT OF FORT DUQUESNE
Huzzah! Neither of the two red-coated men was Washington. The tall one who might have been Washington was the young Long Knife captain named Strobo, who had planned Fort Necessity. And the other, short and square, was Captain Jacob Vanbraam of Dutch Land.
They were not tied, but this counted nothing, because they could not run away. Captain Vanbraam seemed to be sputtering in his funny French with the French officers, while the handsome Captain Strobo sat silently, sending his brown eyes roving about. And whether he saw Robert, Robert did not know; but of course it would not do to take any notice of him or Vanbraam.