To the amazement of Captain De Quindre, Boone announced the determination of the garrison to defend the post, at the same time thanking the enemy for the time allowed the defenders for the completion of their preparations. De Quindre was chagrined to realize that he had been tricked but did not evince any resentment and, after a brief consultation with Blackfish, returned to Boone with a fresh proposition. He declared that the attacking party was not in the least desirous of resorting to severity, and that if Boone and a few of the other leading men in the fort would meet the Indian chiefs on the following day, a treaty could be effected upon the most advantageous terms to the settlers. Boone was quite satisfied that some deception was intended by this proposition, but he readily acceded to it because every day’s delay improved the prospect of relief arriving from the Holston. It was agreed that Boone and eight of his men should go out to a spot about eighty yards from the fort and there confer with a delegation from the Indian camp, both parties to be absolutely unarmed. The truce was to be extended to the termination of this conference. The commissioners met as agreed but instead of an equal number of Indians, Blackfish appeared attended by eighteen warriors, so that there were two Indians to each white man. Boone took no notice of this early indication of treachery, for he had posted twenty guns in concealment behind the palisades ready for an emergency. A table with writing materials had been brought out, that any agreement which might be arrived at could be inscribed and signed. Blackfish opened the proceedings with a speech in which he pretended to be moved almost to the point of tears. He professed to be heartbroken at the desertion of his son Sheltowee, and reproached him with ingratitude in leaving the Indians after their kind treatment of him. To this Boone replied that it was but natural that he should cleave to his own people. That he had been allowed no voice in the adoption, and could not justly have been expected to observe it. That he was truly grateful to Blackfish and his tribe for their gentle treatment of him and would wish for nothing better than to be on friendly terms with them. But if they persisted upon attacking the whites, he, Boone, would fight them to the bitter end. This point having been disposed of, they proceeded to the question of the treaty. On the single condition of the settlers owning allegiance to the King of Great Britain, the Indian chiefs promised to withdraw to their own country and to leave them in peaceful possession of Boonesborough and their property. They did not demand hostages, nor any other pledge of sincerity. The signatures of Boone and his eight companions to a brief agreement embodying the conditions on both sides would be sufficient to secure the retirement of the Indians from Kentucky and the avoidance of future hostilities.