"You are from that far land they call Kaintuckee?" he said.
"Yes."
"One of the best of the countries belonging to the Indians?"
"It is a good country, but I do not know that it ever belonged to the Indians. No doubt they have hunted there and fought there for hundreds of years, but so far as I know, they've never lived there."
"Then it belongs to the King," said Holderness.
Henry smiled. He rather liked this ingenuous young man who was not much older than himself.
"A country like Kentucky," he replied, "belongs to those who can hold it. Once the French King claimed it, but how could he enforce a claim to a country separated from him by thousands of miles of sea and wilderness? Now the English King makes the same claim, and perhaps he has a better chance, but still that chance is not good enough."
The young officer sighed a little.
"I'm sorry we have to fight you," he said. "I've heard ugly tales since I came about the savages and the white men, too."
"You're likely to hear more," said Henry. "But this I take it is our jail."