"Yes, it is father," said Richard in confirmation.
A few minutes later the distinguished man stopped before the door, and was respectfully greeted by Lambert and the other young men.
"I have no time to stop," said Herkimer, "and only wanted to see how far you have got. Now this looks well. Could you fill the ditch with water it would indeed be better; but this would be a long and wearisome labor, and you will have to dispense with it. How are you off for ammunition? Do you think you have enough, Lambert?"
Herkimer had now dismounted, and he asked Lambert and Aunt Ursul, who had meanwhile come out of the house, to give him detailed account of the condition of things, by means of which he knew how to bring it about that they should get some distance from the others.
He then said, "I would like to speak to you alone. I feel sure of you, and of Richard, but I am not so certain of the others, whom I do not know so well. You will here, so far as one can now judge, have a difficult position. I this morning received intelligence that the French have at least three hundred men, and that besides this the Onondagas and the Oneidas will join them. The bargain is indeed not yet concluded, but will doubtless be made if our last means fail--I mean if Conrad is not in a position to bring his old friends into a different state of mind. I have from the governor the long-expected authority to yield to them everything possible, and can intrust Conrad with it. He or nobody is in a situation to turn away from us this great misfortune. Where is he? I have not yet seen him."
"Hurry over there, Lambert. Those sparrow-heads will not finish without you," said Aunt Ursul.
"The poor boy!" she proceeded, as Lambert went away with red cheeks and a thankful look at Aunt Ursul, "the poor, dear boy! his heart is being eaten out; and that so that now the whole world must become acquainted with his brother's shame, which is really his own shame. Nay, you are indeed not sponsor for the whole world, Herkimer, but in this case you must be satisfied with me."
She then briefly told Herkimer all that it was necessary for him to know.
The excellent man listened with an earnest, thoughtful mien, and there lay a deep pain in the tone of his voice as now, shaking his gray head, he said:
"So we Germans will not unitedly resist our natural enemy. That Conrad should now fail us is a sad misfortune. His quarrel with Lambert at this moment means, not one friend less, but several hundred enemies more. Yes, why do I say hundred? The example of the Oneidas may become the measure of all the nations along the lakes, and then our well-being--our peace--is past for a long time, perhaps forever!"