Perspiring and thirsty after his long, rapid walk from the hollow poplar
to the cabin, Kingdom would gladly have rested before going on to the
town of the Delawares, but the day was already well advanced and he must
hurry. Stopping only for a drink of water, therefore, and to assure
himself that nothing had been disturbed in his absence, he saddled
Phoebe and was away again.
The boy had been thinking much of all that he meant to say to Captain
Pipe and his counselors and the subject still occupied him as he drew
near the Indian village. He glanced anxiously about, wondering if he
would be met by any such warning as had come to him the day before, but
saw no one. Going on to the straggling little collection of huts of bark
and skins which comprised the town, however, he was soon greeted by
Captain Pipe himself and a score of warriors. The manner of the Indians
was very formal and cool, yet not especially unfriendly, Kingdom
thought, and he felt sure that if it were not for Lone-Elk he could win
all the friends of the dead Big Buffalo over to his side and persuade
them that witchcraft had not been the cause of death.
Lone-Elk was not present when Kingdom arrived, but scarcely had the lad
tied his horse when the Seneca came stalking forth from his lodge, a
wigwam made of skins, and followed the chief and the other Indians as
they led the way with Ree to the Council House. The latter building was
the same as that in which the religious exercises of the Harvest
Festival were held and has been sufficiently described.
Captain Pipe and his followers ranged themselves in a wide semicircle at
one side of the long, low structure and Kingdom sat opposite them.
Lone-Elk was at the extreme left of the line of warriors on the chief's
right. He had not spoken to the white visitor, nor did he now deign to
take any notice of him. In all respects his conduct and general bearing
were not only insolent but ugly to the point of savage hostility.
When all were seated, Captain Pipe briefly said that the council was
ready to hear any message or statement which the Paleface visitor wished
to present.
Kingdom had hoped he would have an opportunity to learn something more
than he yet knew as to the circumstances of Big Buffalo's death before
the council convened, but there had been no time for this, and he could
but make the best of his situation.
Rising, Ree saluted the Indians very respectfully and began what proved
to be a really able speech, though he had little supposed that so much
formality would be observed in the "talk" he had asked to have. From
quiet, slowly spoken words, Kingdom advanced by degrees to louder tones
and greater vehemence, and he had, he was glad to see, the respectful
attention of every Indian present, not excepting Lone-Elk.
On the latter's face an expression of indifferent insolence changed to
one of very attentive thoughtfulness. He realized that here was a force
and an appeal to the reason and intelligence of the Delawares which
might very easily prove the undoing of his schemes and his accusations
and possibly end most unfortunately for himself.
Kingdom spoke most plainly, and understanding full well the power of
hard, honest truth, honestly and forcefully presented, he frankly owned
that John Jerome had been forced into hiding by the danger in which he
was placed, owing to the charge that was made against him. They both
would be compelled to leave their home and lose it and all the work they
had done in their clearing if the Delawares could not be made to see
that this accusation of witchcraft was unjust and false, he said. He
reminded Captain Pipe and the others how, in good faith, he and John had
bought their land; how they had refrained from going to the west of the
river on the portage path because those lines marked the boundary of the
lands the Indians had never surrendered to the white people as a whole.
He appealed to the sense of justice which every Indian had, to the end
that they might see how unfair it was to take the testimony of any one
person as conclusive evidence of guilt.
Neither did Ree spare the Seneca. He warmly called attention to the
character of Lone-Elk and denounced the fellow as an outcast, a fugitive
from the villages and the haunts of his own people; scored him as one
whose history made him an unfit witness for the Delawares to believe,
and especially so since the accusation he made was directed against one
whose friendship for all the Delawares, Big Buffalo included, had been
proved time and again.
Much more did Ree say, and he was satisfied as he finished that,
whatever the outcome might be, he had done his best. He had suggested
many causes for Big Buffalo's sudden death, any one of which he declared
was more reasonable than this idea of witchcraft. He had asked that the
opportunity be given him to examine the body of the dead warrior to see
if he could not then tell precisely what had produced death. He would
not say, he stated, that he could positively do this, but it would be no
more than fair to let him try.
In accordance with the Indian custom, when matters of such grave concern
were the subject of a council, Kingdom withdrew after he had presented
his contention to await a decision when the Delawares had discussed the
matter among themselves.
What went on in the Council House while he walked about outside Kingdom
did not know. He easily imagined that Lone-Elk would ridicule things
that he had said and ask if he himself had not been as good a Delaware
since coming among them as any warrior present.
Ree's guess was not far wrong. Lone-Elk did appeal to Captain Pipe and
everyone present in the strongest language at his command, reiterating
again and again that what his eyes bad seen should stand for more than
any denial which the young Palefaces could make. And he promised, too,
that if the opportunity were given him, he would find evidence
convincing to every Delaware that the Little Paleface was a witch and
that he and no other had caused the death of the warrior whose arm would
be lifted in battle, whose voice would sound upon the warpath never
again.
For more than an hour the council remained in session while Kingdom
walked up and down impatiently among the low huts. Most of the Indians
of both sexes were gathered in the Council House and he was quite alone.
A step near by stirred him from his melancholy revery. Glancing up, he
found Fishing Bird beside him. The look on the friendly fellow's face
was enough to tell Ree that the council had decided against him.
"Come," the Indian said, telling with his eyes that which he dared not
speak, and Kingdom followed him into the long, bark building and once
more stood before the council.
Very gravely Captain Pipe motioned to the white boy to be seated, and
himself rising, spoke slowly and with much earnestness in English, which
language he now used quite fluently.
At considerable length the Delaware chief reviewed the whole case which
had been presented both by Ree and by Lone-Elk, the accuser. He
criticised the "Paleface brother" for having failed to bring before the
council the one who had been accused. He praised Ree, however, for the
frank and open way in which he had laid his arguments before the Indians
and for the friendliness he had shown the Delawares at all times.
About the boundary between the white nation and the Indian nations,
Captain Pipe said it was true that a treaty had been made several years
earlier by the white people and the Delaware, Chippewa and Wyandot
nations (at Fort Industry, in 1785) in which it was agreed that the
Indians would give up all claim to the land east of the Cuyahoga river,
the portage path and the Tuscarawas river, or main branch of the
Muskingum, as it was also called. He said further that this same treaty
was renewed at a somewhat later time (at Fort Harmer, in 1789) when the
Delawares, Wyandots, Chippewas, Sacs and Pottawatomies had made an
agreement with the Palefaces.
That the treaties were not kept, Captain Pipe declared, was the fault of
the white people because they were always encroaching upon the lands of
the Indians and always seeking to drive them farther and farther to the
west. He could not consider, he said, that the two young white settlers
had any rights in the Ohio country except that which came to them by
reason of their having traded goods for the certain small parcel of land
they occupied. If they wished to hunt or fish on any other land
excepting the few acres they owned, they did so only because the Indians
permitted it. Therefore if any violation of Indian laws or customs was
committed, they must answer to the Indians for the violation and not
contend, as White Fox had done, that a trial by the people of their own
color and laws was their right, because they did not actually live on
Indian soil.
The agreement the council had reached in regard to the charge of
witchcraft against him who was called "Little Paleface," Captain Pipe at
last concluded, was that Lone-Elk and others should go forth to search
for further evidence against the white boy. Further, it was agreed that
the Delawares would grant the White Fox--meaning Ree--permission to try
to show that Big Buffalo died from some cause other than witchcraft if
he would give himself as a hostage for the delivery of Little Paleface
into the hands of Lone-Elk, in case it was finally decided that
witchcraft actually caused the death of the warrior whose voice was now
silent.
The latter proposition came as a decided surprise to Kingdom. He had
been prepared to hear the decision that Lone-Elk have the opportunity to
produce evidence. He remembered vividly now the secret visit the Seneca
had paid the clearing the night before. But he dared not speak of it. To
do so would betray Fishing Bird. And not knowing what Lone-Elk would
"find" in the way of "evidence," Ree was much at a loss to answer when
Captain Pipe, bidding him speak, sat down.
Like the ingenious Yankee boy that he was, Ree did not reply at once to
the hostage part of the Delaware chief's proposal. Concerning the search
for evidence, he could only say, he stated, that full permission was
given the Indians to look in every nook and corner of the cabin by the
river and in the clearing and the woods surrounding it, or wherever else
they chose. If they found anything which could be taken to be evidence
that John Jerome had aught to do with the death of Big Buffalo, it would
be something which had been placed among their property by others; it
would be "made to order" evidence, and therefore worth nothing to any
fair minded member of the Delaware or any other nation.
Having spoken thus far, and thinking now of the offer that he give
himself as a hostage, though he did not mention it, Ree asked of Captain
Pipe and all the Indians present whether he was to consider them
personally as friends or foes. He wanted to know whether he himself was
to be free to come and go as in the past, or whether it was their
intention to dispossess him of his land by practically driving him off
of it.
"If you do this," said he, "in what way is it better than the treatment
the Indians themselves complain of, that they are driven from their
forests?"
The thought thus presented interested Captain Pipe a great deal and for
a second or two he did not answer.
"The council is over. The Paleface brother knows its decision. It is not
the custom to talk when the time for talking is past," he said at last.
"Yes, but am I to be molested? Am I to lie down at night knowing that to
me, personally, at least, the Delawares are friends, or am I to watch
lest as enemies they come to kill me?" Ree demanded.
"The Paleface brother gives himself not as a hostage. He has rejected
the offer made him," Captain Pipe answered.
"I want only time to think about that," said Ree. "I will answer later."
The council was over but the Indians all remained silent, listening
attentively to everything which was said. Inquiringly now they looked to
their chief to know the white boy's fate. Most of them felt friendly
toward him. But at the same time all, or nearly all, were growing daily
more hostile to the whites in general.
"The White Fox may go. He is free and no Indian will disturb him; but he
must come no more to the village of the Delawares if he comes not as a
hostage. He must remain near his own lodge and if he goes from his own
land he must go not far. He must carry no tales of what the Indians are
doing to the forts or to the houses of the Paleface people. On the land
that the Delawares sold to him the Paleface brother shall be as safe as
the eagle in its nest upon the mountain tops."
"No other place, though," Lone-Elk grunted savagely and only half
audibly.
Whether Captain Pipe heard him Ree did not know, for as the latter had
ceased speaking he had dismissed the council with a wave of his hand,
and now all the Indians were moving toward the open air, some quiet and
thoughtful, some talking, some pushing and hurrying, some inclined to
linger.
Gentle Maiden was among the latter. She passed very near Ree as she
moved slowly out and, unobserved by any save himself, gave the lad a
glance which was most friendly, the only really friendly look he had
received except from Fishing Bird.
With an effort Kingdom suppressed a tear of bitterness and
disappointment which, somehow, the friendly look from the Indian girl
had brought to his eyes. He waited only until he could reach Captain
Pipe and shake his hand to show the appreciation and respect which he
felt were really due the chief, sadly misled by Lone-Elk though the
proud Delaware was. Ree could not but notice Hopocon performed the
friendly ceremony of shaking hands with far less of cordial warmth than
usual.
"So much," he thought, "for the fact that Captain Pipe needs lead and
that the Seneca knows where lead is."
But he said good-bye to those who were near, untied Phoebe and rode
slowly away. The day was very near its close.