Elkswatawa : $b or, The prophet of the west. A tale of the frontierFrench, James Strange
General
Elkswatawa : $b or, The prophet of the west. A tale of the frontier
French, James Strange
Tippecanoe, Battle of, Ind., 1811 -- Fiction
When Kenah first announced his visit to the lodge of Netnokwa, the
countenance of the Prophet was darkened with anger, and he bit his
lips in suppressed rage; yet Kenah finished his story, and still the
Prophet, to his surprise, remained silent. Had the persons whose
deaths he wished, been any other than those they were, no difficulty
would have ensued; they would have been removed without a struggle,
for the Prophet always thirsted for blood;—he was never known to
forgive an enemy, nor ever, under any circumstances, to intercede for
a victim; the narrative of Kenah had embittered his feelings in the
highest degree;—he was mad with rage, and still he refused to answer
Kenah's demand, requiring time to pass upon the matter. Taking this
view of his character, Kenah viewed his conduct as perfectly
incomprehensible. His divine mission had been ridiculed and denied, he
himself decried as an impostor, and that too by a woman, and she of a
hated race, and yet he required time to act.
Kenah felt that a change had come over the Prophet, and leaving him,
he mentioned the circumstances, and they soon became the common talk
of the camp. But while he did this, he little knew the difficulties
which lay in the way of the Prophet. At the first recital of the
events which Kenah had detailed, the Prophet knew that the white
maiden alluded to, could be no other than the same who was captured by
Yanatah, and whom he had given to Netnokwa to take with her home;—and
that the red maiden who was said to be under her influence, and whose
death Kenah also thought desirable, could be no other than she who was
to have been the bride of Tecumseh. When he recollected that this
difficulty had occurred in consequence of his having once, and once
only, permitted a pale face who was in his clutches to escape from
them, he felt a pang, such as is ordinarily felt, when one reverts for
a moment to some deep crime which stains his past life. Under these
circumstances he for some time hesitated what to do. Netnokwa was
powerful, and possessed great influence, which it was necessary either
to obtain or destroy. How to do this, while those who resided with
her, were suffered to ridicule his doctrines, he could not tell. To
accuse her of witchcraft, and order her to the stake, was now
impossible, for he had lately declared, in the words of the Great
Spirit, that all witches were exterminated, and he (the Great Spirit)
appeased.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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