The MASTERS of the PEAKS

A STORY OF THE GREAT NORTH WOODS

BY JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER

1918

FOREWORD

"The Masters of the Peaks," while presenting a complete story in itself is the fourth volume of the French and Indian War Series, of which the predecessors were "The Hunters of the Hills," "The Shadow of the North," and "The Rulers of the Lakes." Robert Lennox, Tayoga, Willet, and all the other important characters of the earlier romances reappear in the present book.

CONTENTS

CHARACTERS IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR SERIES
CHARACTERS
CHAPTER I: IN THE DEEP WOODS
CHAPTER II: ON THE RIDGES
CHAPTER III: THE BRAVE DEFENSE
CHAPTER IV: THE GODS AT PLAY
CHAPTER V: TAMING A SPY
CHAPTER VI: PUPILS OF THE BEAR
CHAPTER VII: THE SLEEPING SENTINELS
CHAPTER VIII: BEFORE MONTCALM
CHAPTER IX: THE SIGN OF THE BEAR
CHAPTER X: THE FLIGHT OF THE TWO
CHAPTER XI: THE MYSTIC VOYAGE
CHAPTER XII: THE MARVELOUS TRAILER
CHAPTER XIII: READING THE SIGNS
CHAPTER XIV: ST. LUC'S REVENGE

CHARACTERS IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR SERIES

ROBERT LENNOX: A lad of unknown origin

TAYOGA: A young Onondaga warrior

DAVID WILLET: A hunter

RAYMOND LOUIS DE ST. LUC: A brilliant French officer

AUGUSTE DE COURCELLES: A French officer

FRANÇOIS DE JUMONVILLE: A French officer

LOUIS DE GALISSONNIÈRE: A young French officer

JEAN DE MÉZY: A corrupt Frenchman

ARMAND GLANDELET: A young Frenchman

PIERRE BOUCHER: A bully and bravo

PHILIBERT DROUILLARD: A French priest

THE MARQUIS DUQUESNE: Governor-General of Canada

MARQUIS DE VAUDREUIL: Governor-General of Canada

FRANÇOIS BIGOT: Intendant of Canada

MARQUIS DE MONTCALM: French commander-in-chief

DE LEVIS: A French general

BOURLAMAQUE: A French general

BOUGAINVILLE: A French general

ARMAND DUBOIS: A follower of St. Luc

M. DE CHATILLARD: An old French Seigneur

CHARLES LANGLADE: A French partisan

THE DOVE: The Indian wife of Langlade

TANDAKORA: An Ojibway chief

DAGONOWEDA: A young Mohawk chief

HENDRICK: An old Mohawk chief

BRADDOCK: A British general

ABERCROMBIE: A British general

WOLFE: A British general

COL. WILLIAM JOHNSON: Anglo-American leader

MOLLY BRANT: Col. Wm. Johnson's Indian wife

JOSEPH BRANT: Young brother of Molly Brant, afterward the great Mohawk chief, Thayendanegea

ROBERT DINWIDDIE: Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia

CHARACTERS

WILLIAM SHIRLEY: Governor of Massachusetts

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: Famous American patriot

JAMES COLDEN: A young Philadelphia captain

WILLIAM WILTON: A young Philadelphia lieutenant

HUGH CARSON: A young Philadelphia lieutenant

JACOBUS HUYSMAN: An Albany burgher

CATERINA: Jacobus Huysman's cook

ALEXANDER MCLEAN: An Albany schoolmaster

BENJAMIN HARDY: A New York merchant

JOHNATHAN PILLSBURY: Clerk to Benjamin Hardy

ADRIAN VAN ZOON: A New York merchant

THE SLAVER: A nameless rover

ACHILLE GARAY: A French spy

ALFRED GROSVENOR: A young English officer

JAMES CABELL: A young Virginian

WALTER STUART: A young Virginian

BLACK RIFLE: A famous "Indian fighter"

ELIHU STRONG: A Massachusetts colonel

ALAN HERVEY: A New York financier

STUART WHYTE: Captain of the British sloop, Hawk

JOHN LATHAM: Lieutenant of the British sloop, Hawk

EDWARD CHARTERIS: A young officer of the Royal Americans

ZEBEDEE CRANE: A young scout and forest runner

ROBERT ROGERS: Famous Captain of American Rangers

CHAPTER I

IN THE DEEP WOODS

A light wind sang through the foliage, turned to varying and vivid hues now by the touch of autumn, and it had an edge of cold that made Robert Lennox shiver a little, despite a hardy life in wilderness and open. But it was only a passing feeling. A moment or two later he forgot it, and, turning his eyes to the west, watched the vast terraces of blazing color piled one above another by the sinking sun.

Often as he had seen it the wonderful late glow over the mighty forest never failed to stir him, and to make his pulse beat a little faster. His sensitive mind, akin in quality to that of a poet, responded with eagerness and joy to the beauty and majesty of nature. Forgetting danger and the great task they had set for themselves, he watched the banks of color, red and pink, salmon and blue, purple and yellow, shift and change, while in the very heart of the vast panorama the huge, red orb, too strong for human sight, glittered and flamed.

The air, instinct with life, intoxicated him and he became rapt as in a vision. People whom he had met in his few but eventful years passed before him again in all the seeming of reality, and then his spirit leaped into the future, dreaming of the great things he would see, and in which perhaps he would have a share.

Tayoga, the young Onondaga, looked at