A plan was forming in his mind which would make strong demands on the good faith of Major Provost and the Governor. He knew, as every old soldier knows, that governments and rulers are thankless, that even written authority is none too binding, if to make it good should inconvenience those who so easily give it. He knew further that if he should succeed now in staying the Onondagas and Cayugas by pledges which, perchance, it might not please Governor Denonville to observe, the last frail ties that held the Iroquois to the French would be broken, and England would reign from the Hudson to the river of the Illinois. And he sighed, as he had sighed many times before, for the old days under Frontenac, under the only Governor of New France who could hold these slippery redskins to their obligations. "Father," he said finally, "I begin to see a way." "The Big Throat?" "He must help, though to tell the truth I fear that he will be of little service. He may come in time to give us a stay; but, chief though he is, he will hardly dare overrule the Long Arrow on a matter so personal as this." "What is the Long Arrow's family--the Beaver?" "Yes." "But, M'sieu, that is the least of the eight families. If it were the Tortoise or the Bear against us, we should have greater cause for fear." "True, Father, but to each family belongs its own quarrels, its own revenge. If the Big Throat should interfere too deeply, it would anger the other small families, who might fear the same treatment at some other time. And with Beaver, Snipe, Deer, and Potato united against us,--well, it is a simple enough problem." They were walking by the door, and Menard, as he spoke, sat on the stone which he had rolled there in the afternoon. The priest stood before him. "I hope we may succeed, my son. I have seen this anger before, and it has always ended in the one way." "Of course," the Captain replied, "it does depend on the Big Throat. He must reach here in time." "God grant that he may!" "In that case, Father, I look for a delay. Unless his heart has hardened rapidly, he still thinks of me. Together we will go to him, and ask a hearing in the war council." "Oratory will not release us, I fear, M'sieu." "We shall not ask to be released, Father. Don't you understand? It is more than that we shall demand,--it is peace with New France, the safety of the column--" The priest's eyes lighted. "Do you think, M'sieu--" "We can do it. They have not heard all the truth. They do not want a long war which will kill their braves and destroy their homes and their corn. It is this attack on the Senecas that has drawn them out." "You will tell them that the Governor fights only the Senecas?" "More than that. The La Grange affair has stirred them up. It has weakened their faith in the Governor,--it has as good as undone all the work of twenty years past. Our only hope is to reestablish that faith."