“‘Father,’ I said, ‘you and the English are white. We live in a country between; the land does not belong to either of you. Now I ask you to go out. I am saying the same to our brothers the English, and we will see which of you will pay attention and deserve sharing with us. I am here to say this to you, for I am not afraid to order you off our land.’ Then I handed the wampum belt to him, that he might know we were done with him.”
“Those were good words,” Washington nodded gravely. “What did he reply?”
“He said to me, speaking very rudely: ‘My child, I do not know this wampum with which you order me away. You need not speak, for I will not hear you. I am not afraid of flies or mosquitoes, such as Indians are. Down the river I will go and build upon it. If the river is blocked I am strong enough to burst it open and tread everybody under my feet.’
“Then he threw the speech belt in my face, and he said, laughing at me:
“‘Child, you talk foolish. You say this land belongs to you, but there is not so much as the black of your nail yours. I saw that land before the Six Nations took it from the Shawnees. With lead I went down and took possession of that river. It is my land and I will have it, no matter who tries to stand against me. If you will be ruled by me you will get kindness, but not otherwise.’
“He spoke angrily, with a red face,” Tanacharison continued. “So I took the speech belt and came home. You had better think a while before you go, for you will be treated with rudeness.”
“My chief the Governor of Virginia has ordered me to travel straight to the French and give the French chief a letter,” said Washington. “There I will go!”
“What is in the letter?” Tanacharison asked.
“It is a letter of much importance to us all,” said Washington. “And by this string of wampum Assaragoa asks you, his brothers, for young men who will go with me by the shortest road, and hunt for meat, and help me against the French Indians who have taken up the hatchet.”
“All this must come before the council tomorrow,” answered Tanacharison, “when the chiefs of the Shawnee and the Delaware will be present. But we should like to know your business with the French chief, and what the English intend to do. Do the English claim this land north of the river?”