“His Majesty’s government realized war was imminent so the army got its way. When the civil governor went back to England for a spot of leave, he was replaced by General Brock. When he was killed at Queenston Sheaffe took over. He was on the Niagara too, along with a fellow called John Norton. I won’t even attempt to pronounce his Indian name. He has a Cherokee father and a Scottish mother and he’s the son-in-law of Joseph Brant, the chap who led the Nations and fought alongside us in the Revolution.”

“Thayendanega,” Hawkwood said softly.

Lawrence paused. “I do believe that was his Mohawk name, yes. You’ve heard of him?”

“A long time ago.”

Lawrence paused for Hawkwood to elaborate, but when he saw that wasn’t going to happen, he went on: “Soon as Sheaffe became Commander, he rewarded Norton with a title: Captain of the Indian Confederation, in recognition for his action at Queenston.”

A memory of one of Quade’s outbursts entered Hawkwood’s mind.

“That breed, Norton, and his damned savages!”

“That sealed it,” Lawrence said. “They might as well have crowned him King of the Iroquois, because as far as the army’s concerned that’s what he is. So now they have a war chief – their war chief – as leader of the Nations. Norton can use his influence to persuade the tribes to fight for us. The Indian Department’s hopping mad, of course. It’s worried that with a war chief as leader, if the tribes ever decide to turn against His Majesty’s government they’ll wreak havoc among the whites.”

“There’s a risk of that?”

“Not if we keep them sweet.”

“You think that will work?”

Lawrence shrugged. “So long as we have Norton in our corner. There are other inducements. The main one being that if Canada falls to the Americans it won’t only be the British who’ll lose, but the Nations, too. There’ll be nothing to stop the Yankees from taking everything, including Indian land. Not that there’s much left of it, mind you, but they’ll have even less if we lose. We can’t let that happen.

“Norton’s doing a good job persuading the Indians on the Canadian side of the line to join us but it’s the ones in residence on this side of the border I was sent to convince. We know they’re veering towards neutrality and that some have been in secret correspondence with their Canadian brothers advocating that. We want them to see things differently. Pearson believes the Iroquois to be a pragmatic people who’ll side with the nation most likely to emerge victorious. Our successes at Detroit and Queenston will show them we have the resources and the skill to defeat the Americans.