Year: 1869




"Joe,' said |, after pause, "can you
travel twenty miles through the woods
between now and daylight, to morrow
morning.


Yes he replied promptly, for he was
always ready.


l hurriedly gave him the necessary
directions; and, taking a small supply ol
dried buffalo meat. he at once set off on
his journey.


AS soon as he was gone | again re-
paired to the Indian encampment, and
found, as l had anticipated, that the
principal men of the tribe were holding a
council. went to the wigwam in which
the council was assembled, and entered
without,any announcement. One of the
medicine men of the tribe was speaking
He set forth in strong terms the indignity
which had been put upon the great
Shawnee nation, eloquently counselled
war. and promised, in the name of the
Great Spirit, that signal success would
attend their arms.


! When he sat down, the chief looked nj
me, and for few moments, felt that
my life was hanging in the balance, for
my intrusion into the council was contrary
to all precedent. Danger was more to
/ i,a ,has la1 hA hot ha
last speaker was anything but favorably
disposed toward me, Judging from his
looks At length the chief took his pipe,
filed with Killickinick, drew long in
Spiration, and then, gravely and slowly,
pufled the smoke first steward the ground,
then upward toward the sky, and lastly
toward myself This was favorable, so
l arose and in the Shawnee tongue spoke
as follows:


The Otoes have stolen horses and
traps from the ShswneeS. II is not well,
and the Great Spirit is angry with them.
But the Great Spirit of the pale faces has
sent his medicine man to say 10 the
/ Shawnees, We shall not go To war with the
/ Otoes. for the Great Spirit himself will
punish the Otoes unless they return the
horses and beaver traps they have stolen.
| And this shall be sign 10 You: II to-
morrow the sun shall rise and give light
as usual, and shall pass through the
/ heavens and set rs usual. then the pale
/ face is a liar and no medicine man; bat
if the sun shall become dark and cease to
give light, then shall ye know that the
pale face is a prophet, and that he has
spoken the words of the Great Spirit"
/ saw that these words had made an i'm
preston, So turned and left the wig
wan.


! had not, at that time. passed through
so many dangerous scenes as lhayc since,
and nv nerves were not quite so firm n
/ they are now. Can YOU wonder then,
that | passed an uneasy nj ght? | had no
doubt of the correctness of the almanac,
! But was our calculation OF time correct:
! We had been in the habit of keeping our
reckoning bv means of notched stick.
such a YOU read Off Robinson Crusoe.
! But we might have made n mistake. And
/ five had, our lives would certainly pay
the forfeit, for had directly opposed the
great medicine man of the tribe and un-
less l was completely triumphant in my
plan, he would, | well knew, leave no
stone untuned TO effect our destruction


At length the morning dawned, felt
thankful that it was clear. Bright ano
beautiful the glorious orb of day rose
above the horizon, with nothing unusual
/ i'm its appearance to indicate the ap,
preaching phenomenon. kept close
within my tent, but was glad TO learn
from one of my men, that the Indian,
were eagerly watching the sun. Houi
after hour passed by, and still did moi
show myself The hour of action had moi
come.


If any of YOU were rs old soldiers as
am, YOU would have noticed that among
u soldiers scanty baggage is often to be
found some article, cumbersome, perhap:
and in the way, as well rs quite useless
which he nevertheless clings TO, he hardly
knowsIwhy An article ofthis description
was an old highly-colored dressing gown
which had carried ever since left Wes
Point. Now its day of usefulness haC
come. About ten o'clock | arrayed my
self in this odd-looking garment, and
first bidding my men to remain in tn,
tent, sailed forth to play my part OF
prophet.i


The Indian camp was on the same side
of the stream as we were. On the op
posite side the bank rose TO considerable
height; rs the stream was fordable,
made nv way TO this bluff, and wa:
pleased to notice that the Indians closely
watched my every movement. My ap
pearance must have been impressive
enough. You can see that l am no
slightly built. | am six feet two inche:
in height. Ina gine me standing on lh'
very edge of the bluff, the blue, yellow
and red dressing gown closely wrapped
about my then slim figure, and tai
conical cap, like conjurer's, made of {
newspaper. upon my head. Imagine the
Indians TO the number of thousand ol
more, almost under my feet on the op
posite side of the stream, and you have