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
“I will see,” said Earth, and turning to the Prophet, he said,
“Father, thou art great in wisdom, and the Manito tells thee the
secrets of the world. Wilt thou make glad our hearts, by showing us
the path along which the bad Ingens have travelled? The long rifle
will thank thee, and say, the Prophet is the friend of white men.”
Pleased by these remarks, the Prophet with more gentleness in his
manner than he had before manifested, said, “We are sorry our brother
said that bad Indians were in our camp. It made our heart heavy to
hear it. We have nothing to do with bad men. We are very sorry for
what has happened, we are grieved for the young woman, and would show
her to our brothers if we could. Our eyes are opened by what our
brother has told us, and we will tell him what we think. It was last
evening that the Prophet was alone in his tent, praying to the Great
Spirit to tell him what to do, that he might make his red children
happy, when afar off he saw red men crossing the prairie. He thought
they were hunting, and was surprised that they did not come to see
him. The Prophet thinks they were the bad men, and they feared to
come.”
“The Prophet is good, he will show their path to the hunters,” said
Earth.
“The long rifle,” answered the Prophet, “follows the game in the
woods. He can find the tracks of the bad men. A runner from the Wabash
came yesterday to see the Prophet. He said that bad red men were
gathering together, and that the pale faces were trembling. We like
not these things, and sent our brother Tecumseh to make them hunt the
deer far away from the border. The Prophet thinks the bad men have
gone there.”
“The Prophet is good,” said Earth, “he is the friend of the long
rifles;” then turning to Rolfe, he told him of all he had learned.
“Then let us leave,” said Rolfe, “I shall breathe more freely, and we
can resolve what to do, when we get out of sight of these grim and
statue-like faces.” Earth then turning to the Prophet, said, “The long
rifles wish peace to the Prophet, and will return to their wigwams.”
“They will go,” he replied, “after they have broken our bread, and
smoked with us the pipe of peace.” He then motioned his hand, and with
its wave the warriors disappeared, and a few moments after, an Indian
girl approached with a rude breakfast, though composed of the choicest
game of the prairie; and the hunters having partaken of it, since to
have refused would have been regarded as an insult, smoked with the
Prophet, and bidding him adieu, received many kind wishes. They were
then conducted without his tent, and left to shape their course as
inclination might suggest.
Having gotten clear of his camp, Rolfe said, “well, Earth, come, tell
us what is best to be done.”
“Why, make tracks for the settlements as fast as we can.”
“And leave the poor girl to her fate?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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