The eyes of the Mohawk chieftain glittered and he seemed to swell both in size and stature.
"We are a hundred," he replied proudly. "What does it matter how many they are? I am astonished that the Great Bear should ask me such a question."
Willet laughed softly.
"I asked it," he said, "because I knew what the answer would be. None other could come from a Mohawk chieftain."
Again the eyes of Daganoweda glittered, but this time with pride.
"Shall we advance and attack St. Luc's force tonight?" said Willet, turning to Rogers.
"I think it would be best," replied the Mountain Wolf. "A surprise is possible tonight only. Tomorrow his scouts are sure to find that we are near. What say you, Daganoweda?"
"Tonight," replied the Mohawk chief, sententiously.
There was no further discussion, and the whole force, throwing out skirmishers, moved cautiously northward through the great, green wilderness. It was a fair night for a march, not enough moonlight to disclose them at a distance, and yet enough to show the way. Robert kept close to Tayoga, who was just behind Willet, and they bore in toward the lake, until they were continually catching glimpses of its waters through the vast curtain of the forest.
Robert's brain once more formed pictures, swift, succeeding one another like changes of light, but in high colors. The great lake set in the mountains and glimmering under the moon had a wonderful effect upon his imagination. It became for the time the core of all the mighty struggle that was destined to rage so long in North America. The belief became a conviction that whoever possessed Andiatarocte and Oneadatote was destined to possess the continent.