In 1806 Tecumseh was about thirty-eight years of age, a finished athlete, a renowned hunter, and of great reputation as a bold and fearless orator. Probably no red man ever born had a better knowledge of the various treaties that had been consummated between the races. "For all those qualities which elevate man far above his race; for talent, tact, skill, bravery as a warrior; for high-minded, honorable and chivalrous bearing as a man; in fine, for all those elements of greatness which place him a long way above his fellows in savage life, the name and fame of Tecumseh will go down to posterity in the west, as one of the most celebrated of the aborigines of this continent." This is the estimate of Judge Law, of Vincennes. In his youth he had been under the tutelage of his elder brother, Cheeseekau, who taught him "a love for the truth, a contempt of everything mean and sordid, and the practice of those cardinal Indian virtues, courage in battle and fortitude in suffering." In one of the early Shawnee raids along the Ohio he had witnessed the burning of a white man at the stake; the scene was so horrifying to him that he made his associates promise never to torture another person. The spoils of the hunt he divided with the aged and unfortunate. At the time of the Prophet's rise he had already matched his prowess in battle against such men as Simon Kenton and his associates and had proven both his skill as a tactician and his courage as a fighter. An illustration of Tecumseh's chivalry toward his foes, is pleasingly set forth in Smith's _Historical Sketches of Old Vincennes_; "Early in the year 1811, Governor Harrison, with a view to ascertaining the cause of the dissatisfaction of the Prophet, and, if possible, pacify him, deputed one of his most sagacious and trusty advisers with a competent interpreter to hold a council with him and his chiefs, including his brother warrior chief, Tecumseh. It is learned from history that these gentlemen arrived at the village one evening and were received in an apparently friendly manner by the Prophet and assigned a tent for the night with an appointment for a council the next morning. It is said the Prophet's wife was considered a queen among the Indian women, as well as by her husband. Before retiring for the night the interpreter observed an unusual stir among the squaws, and motions made toward their tent, and caught menacing glances and gestures toward them, and so told the ambassador, but he made light of the matter and the interpreter's suspicions that treachery was intended, and when night came on he was soon asleep in peace and quiet. But not so with the vigilant interpreter, who kept awake and had his guns near at hand. About midnight a tap was heard at the door and his name, in the Shawnee language, was called. He found Tecumseh at the door. He had called to warn him of impending assassination by the queen and squaws, who had