"I observed that ye stepped aside to give me room to pass, without losing any time in doing the same," said the grinning Irishman; "I knowed ye was my friend, which is why I headed toward yersilf." When the league of Indians was defeated by General Wayne at Maumee Rapids, they fled for refuge to the British post near at hand. The commandant had promised them that, if they were repelled, he would give them shelter. But Wayne frightened him, and he closed the gates against the fugitives, and allowed many to be cut down. Buckongahelas was so angered by this breach of faith that his principles changed. He refused longer to trust the English, for whom he had bravely fought, became the warm friend of the Americans, and urged his countrymen to do the same. He had all the qualifications of a great hero. A FAMOUS MOHAWK CHIEF ADVENTURES OF BRANDT, THE HALF-BREED Colonel Joseph Brandt, whose Indian name was Thayendenaga, was a chieftain of the Mohawk tribe. He was in fact a half-breed, who lived and acted so like the red men that few are aware of his mongrel blood. He was born about 1745, and was placed by Sir William Johnson in a school at Lebanon, Connecticut, where he received a fair education. On the eve of the Revolution, he went to England, was presented to King George III. and attracted much notice. A peculiar trait of Brandt was that he always managed to draw much attention to himself. He formed a strong liking for the English, and made up his mind to do all he could for them in the war that was about to open. He was given a colonel's commission in the British army on the frontiers, and soon after returned to America to link his name with some of the most shameful events in the West. Associated with Brandt were two Tories who were worse miscreants than he; these were John Butler and Walter his son, who lived a few miles from Johnstown, in New York, which was the home of Brandt. Brandt acted as the secretary of Colonel Guy Johnson, son-in-law of Sir William Johnson, who died in 1774. When Guy Johnson, alarmed for his own safety, fled to Canada, Brandt and the two Butlers went with him. There, where they were safe, they hatched their plots for injuring the Americans. Brandt soon fell out with Johnson, and he and the Butlers returned to New York. In order clearly to understand the events that follow, we must glance at the status of the struggle of the colonies for independence. England formed a plan in 1777, for crushing the uprising by means of the most formidable campaign that had yet been set on foot. This was to send Burgoyne, with his large army from Canada, and open communication between that province and the city of New York, thereby cutting off New England from the rest of the colonies. If this plan could be carried out, Burgoyne's powerful army would be forced like a stupendous wedge between the two sections, and a fatal blow given to the struggle for liberty.