Presently rose a headman whose wife had been a member of Sir William Johnson's household.

He laid his hand on the belt and sang the war song.

One by one, then, chiefs and warriors rose, laid hold of the great belt and chanted the war song.

Only the older men, made wise by many defeats, sat still in their places, mute and dejected.

"After that day every young fellow's face in the overhills towns appeared blackened and nothing was now talked of but war." Stuart reports that "all the white men" in the tribe also laid hands on the belt.