Only one nation could hold the
country for the fur trade. If the French were that nation the Indians
would be protected, their fighting men would be given arms, their
families would be cared for, the great father at Quebec would reward
them as brothers. He gave the Hurons and Ottawas each a war belt to
testify to his intention.
Here was the crisis. But each tribe took the belt and kept it. I
could scarcely forbear glancing at Cadillac. But I dared not be too
elated, for we had yet the Senecas to deal with. Cadillac turned to
them and asked their mission among us. He did it briefly, and I hoped
they would answer with equal bluntness, for I dreaded this part of the
council. All of the Iroquois nations were trained rhetoricians, and I
would need a long ear to catch their verbal quibbles and see where
their sophistry was hiding.
Cannehoot, their oldest chief, spoke for them all. He made proposal
after proposal with belts and tokens to seal them. His speech was
moderate, but his ideas crowded; it was hard to keep them in sequence.
They had come to learn wisdom of us. They gave a belt.
They had come to wipe the war paint from our soldiers' faces. They
gave another belt.
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