Then Tandakora, in his deep guttural, spoke rapidly and with heat.

When he had finished de Courcelles turned to his guests, and with a deprecatory gesture, said: "Tandakora's heart burns with wrath.

He says that you attacked him and his party in the forest and have slain some of his warriors." "Tandakora lies!" It was the Onondaga who spoke.

His voice was not raised, but every syllable was articulated clearly, and the statement came with the impact of a bullet.

The tan of de Courcelles' face could not keep a momentary flush from breaking through, but he kept his presence of mind.
"It is easy enough to call a man a liar," he said, "but it is another thing to prove it." "Since when," said Tayoga, haughtily, "has the word of an Ojibway, a barbarian who knows not the law, been worth more than that of one who is a member of the clan of the Bear, of the nation Onondaga, of the great League of the Hodenosaunee ?" He spoke in English, which Robert knew the Ojibway understood and which both Frenchmen spoke fluently.