The Canadian Brothers; Or, The Prophecy Fulfilled: A Tale of the Late American War — Complete — John Shaqi
The Canadian Brothers; Or, The Prophecy Fulfilled: A Tale of the Late American War — CompleteRichardson, Major (John)
History
The Canadian Brothers; Or, The Prophecy Fulfilled: A Tale of the Late American War — Complete
Richardson, Major (John)
United States -- History -- War of 1812 -- Fiction; War stories
If the chief had been forcibly prepossessed in favour of
the naval commander, the latter had not been less
interested. Since his recent arrival, to assume the
direction of the fleet, Commodore Barclay had had
opportunities of seeing such of the chiefs as were then
assembled at Amherstburg; but great as had been his
admiration of several of these, he had been given to
understand they fell far short, in every moral and physical
advantage, of what their renowned leader would be found
to possess, when, on his return from the expedition in
which he was engaged, fitting opportunity should be had
of bringing them in personal proximity. This admission
was now made in the fullest sense, and as the warrior
moved away to give the greeting to the several chiefs,
and conduct them to the council hall, the gallant sailor
could not refrain from expressing, in the warmest terms
to General Brock, as they moved slowly forward with the
same intention, the enthusiastic admiration excited in
him by the person, the manner, and the bearing, of the
noble Tecumseh.
Again the cannon from the battery and the shipping pealed
forth their thunder. It was the signal for the commencement
of the council, and the scene at that moment was one of
the most picturesque that can well be imagined. The sky
was cloudless, and the river, no longer ruffled by the
now motionless barks of the recently arrived Indians,
yet obeying the action of the tide, offered, as it glided
onward to the lake, the image of a flood of quick-silver;
while, in the distance, that lake itself, smooth as a
mirror, spread far and wide. Close under the bank yet
lingered the canoes, emptied only of their helmsmen (the
chiefs of the several tribes,) while, with strange tongues
and wilder gestures, the warriors of these, as they rested
on their paddles, greeted the loud report of the cannon--
now watching with eager eye the flashes from the vessel's
sides, and now upturning their gaze, and following with
wild surprise, the deepening volumes of smoke that passed
immediately over their heads, from the guns of the battery,
hidden from their view by the elevated and overhanging
bank. Blended with each discharge arose the wild yell,
which they, in such a moment of novel excitement, felt
it impossible to control, and this, answered from the
Indians above and borne in echo almost to the American
shore, had in it something indescribably startling. On
the bank itself the effect was singularly picturesque.
Here were to be seen the bright uniforms of the British
officers, at the head of whom was the tall and martial
figure of General Brock, furthermore conspicuous from
the full and drooping feather that fell gracefully over
his military hat, mingled with the wilder and more fanciful
head dresses of the chiefs. Behind these again, and
sauntering at a pace that showed them to have no share
in the deliberative assembly, whither those we have just
named were now proceeding amid the roar of artillery,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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