In accordance with this order, a deputation was sent to Elkswatawa, requiring that the Indians assembled at his town should at once disperse, and that reparation should be made for the injuries which they had already committed, or that warlike operations would be forthwith commenced. This, together with a knowledge that large bodies of troops were then assembling at Vincennes, induced the Prophet to send messengers in return, who were fully authorized to make such promises and professions of peace, in compliance with the terms required, as would be entirely satisfactory. By this means, that is, by making promises and delaying the fulfilment of them, Elkswatawa hoped he should be enabled to accomplish his design of awaiting the return of Tecumseh; inasmuch as it could not be expected that the terms required were to be performed at once. The Prophet himself wished for battle, and so did his immediate followers; yet he saw how unwise such a course would be at this time, while his brother was absent, and likewise, while the warriors of the vast confederacy which had already been formed were entirely ignorant of his design. To send messengers among them, and call them in, would be at once to throw off the mask and prepare for open warfare. This he could not do consistently with the pledge given Tecumseh, and he therefore resolved to use every possible exertion to preserve peace. The messengers of the Prophet, whom we mentioned above as having been deputed by him, visited Vincennes late in September, 1811, and so successful were they, that they, in some measure, lulled the suspicions of the whites, and left the town under an impression that all would remain satisfied, and peace be preserved, at least for a time. But the continual assembling of warriors from a distance at Tippecanoe, and the daily necessity which the Prophet found for preaching his doctrines, and practising his rites, kept his followers, who always remained with him, in such a feverish state of excitement, that in sorrow he looked upon the vast machinery he had set in motion, and his heart was troubled when he saw that it was about to be deranged, before its accumulating and still increasing power could be brought to bear upon his great design; for scarcely a week elapsed after the return of his messengers, before aggressions were again committed by some of his band, and General Harrison determined at once on commencing offensive operations.