The Hunters of the HillsAltsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
History
The Hunters of the Hills
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
United States -- History -- French and Indian War, 1754-1763 -- Fiction
Robert followed him eagerly. Both he and de Courcelles saw the Bourbons
as they appeared to be before the fall, and not as the world has seen
them since, in the light of revelation. The picture of Paris and its
splendors, painted by one who loved it, flung over him a powerful spell,
and only the warning words Willet had spoken recalled to him that the
Bourbon throne might not really be made for all time.
De Courcelles and Jumonville, who had no permanent quarters in Quebec,
would remain two days at the inn, and, on the whole, Robert was glad. He
felt that the three could protect themselves from possible wiles and
stratagems of the two Frenchmen, and that they meant to attempt them he
believed he had proof later, as de Courcelles suggested they might call
in the course of the evening upon the Intendant, Bigot, who was then at
his palace. They need not say anything about their mission, but good
company could be found there, and they might be sure of a welcome from
the Intendant. Again Robert declined, and de Courcelles did not press
the matter. He and Jumonville withdrew presently, saying they had a
report to make to the commandant of the garrison, and the three went to
bed soon afterward.
Tayoga, who slept lightly, awoke after midnight and went to a window.
The Onondaga, most of the three, distrusted Quebec. It was never Quebec
to him. It was Stadacona of the Ganeagaono, the great warrior nation of
the Hodenosaunee who stood beside the Onondagas, their lost Stadacona,
but their Stadacona still. In his heart too burned the story of
Frontenac and how he had ravaged the country of the Hodenosaunee with
fire and sword. He was here in the very shrine and fortress of the
ancient enemies of the great Iroquois. He had taken the education of the
white man, he had read in his books and he knew much of the story of the
human race, but nothing had ever disturbed his faith that a coming chief
of the clan of the Bear, of the nation Onondaga, of the mighty League of
the Hodenosaunee was, by right, and in fact, a prince among men.
But while Tayoga learned what civilization, as the European races called
it, had to offer, it did not make him value any the less the arts and
lore of his own forest. Rather, they increased in size and importance by
comparison. He had seen how the talk of de Courcelles had lighted a fire
in the soul of Lennox, he had seen how even Willett, the wary, had been
stirred, but he, Tayoga, had been left cold. He had read the purpose
behind it all, and never for an instant did he let himself put any faith
in de Courcelles or Jumonville.
The air of the room was heavy and fetid to Tayoga. His free spirit
detected poison in the atmosphere of Quebec, and, for the moment, he
longed to be in the great, pure wilderness, pure at least to one of his
race. He opened the window more widely and inhaled the breeze which was
coming from the north, out of vast clean forests, that no white man
save the trapper had ever entered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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