"What are the Mohawks, after all!" she said in a tense voice. "Who are they, to paint for war without fire-right given them at Onondaga? What do they amount to, these Keepers of the Eastern Gate, since Sir William died?
"They have become outlaws and there is no honour among them!
"Their clan-right is destroyed and neither Wolf, Bear, nor Tortoise know them any longer. Nor does any ensign of my own clan of the Heron know these mad yellow wolves that howl and tear the Long House with their teeth to destroy it! Like carcajoux, they defile the Iroquois League and smother its fire in their filth! Dig up the ashes of Onondaga for any living ember, O you Oneidas! You shall find not one live spark! And this is what the Canienga have done to the Great Confederacy!"
Tahioni said, looking straight ahead of him: "The Great League of the Iroquois is broken. Skenandoa has said it, and he has painted his face scarlet! The Long House crumbles slowly to its fall.
"Those who should have guarded the Eastern Gate have broken it down. Death to the Canienga!"
Kwiyeh lifted his right hand high in the starlight:
"Death to the Canienga! They have defiled Thendara. Spencer has said it. They have spat upon the Fire at the Wood's Edge. They have hewn down the Great Tree. They have uncovered the war-axe which lay deep buried under the roots.
"Death to the Canienga!"
I turned to Thiohero: "O River-reed, my little sister! Oyaneh! Is it true that your great chief, Skenandoa, has put on red paint?"
She said calmly: "It is true, my brother. Skenandoa has painted himself in red. And when your General Herkimer rides into battle, on his right hand rides Skenandoa; and on his left hand rides Thomas Spencer, the Oneida interpreter!"[11]