But although they were good friends, it seemed, Washington was not blind.
“While I am busy,” he said to Gist, “you have the Hunter count the canoes on the bank. He is a boy and nobody will notice him.”
By knots in a string, one knot for every ten, Robert counted the canoes. There were fifty birch-bark canoes, and one hundred and seventy canoes of wood, besides many being built. In these the French were going to descend the creek and the river, in the spring. That meant a thousand men or more! Captain Joncaire had not lied.
The rains had changed to snow, and Washington was still waiting for an answer to the letter from the Governor of Virginia, so that he could start back. The horses were getting very poor, because there was little feed for them. On the third day he sent them off, with the packers, to Venango again.
“We will come down by canoe,” he said, “which the French have agreed to furnish for us.”
Then he told the Half-King to deliver the speech belt, and get that done with.
“Well,” said the Half-King, “I have the belt, and when the head chief is ready I will give it to him. Let us not be in a hurry. You are young, but the chief and I are old and wise. Meanwhile you are being well treated and so am I. This place is a good place to stay, but the way home is long and cold.”
There were other Indians and many half-breeds at the fort. They and even the French soldiers kept inviting Tanacharison, White Thunder, Juskakaka and Guyasuta to feasts, where much brandy flowed—a far better drink, Tanacharison declared, than the rum of the English. So that all were kept half drunk, and their ears were filled with stories and warnings, and they were being urged to stay until spring at the fort where they would be comfortable among their brothers.
When the Half-King was in his senses he said he would not leave Washington; but when he was foolish he thought that he would stay and get more presents.
“I am going back,” said Washington, angrily. “If your heart is good and you are a man you will deliver the belt at once. You are acting like a child and not like a chief, for these French plan to hold you.”