And thus it was that after a whole week had passed, they still did not know that the battle of Tippecanoe had been fought, and that a precious victory had been bought at a fearful price.  And even now, who knows whether or not that fearful price need have been paid?  It is hard to see the truth clearly, looking back through the mists of nearly a hundred years.  In the strange story of that famous battle, only one fact stands out clear beyond all dispute, and that is so incredible as to stagger belief.  It appears at first utterly past belief that the white army, marching against the red army with the open purpose of attacking it on the next day, should have lain down almost at the feet of the desperate foe, and have gone quietly to sleep.  Only the recorded word of the general in command makes this fact credible.  He also says, to be sure, that the soldiers “would have been called in two minutes more;” but he admits that they had not been called when the red army made the attack, without waiting till the white army woke of its own accord to begin fighting at leisure by daylight, without even waiting those two minutes for the general’s convenience.  What happened to the helpless sleepers then, when the waking warriors thus fell upon the sleeping soldiers, may be most eloquently told in the general’s own words.  “Such of them as were awake or easily awakened, seized their arms and took their stations, others, more tardy, had to contend with the enemy at the doors of their tents.”  Turning the yellowed pages of this most amazing report, the reader can only wonder that the furious tide of battle which set so overwhelmingly against the soldiers in the beginning, ever could have been turned by all the brave blood poured out before its turning.

On the eighth anguished day of suspense Ruth went to the door to welcome Philip Alston, and looking toward the forest path, saw Father Orin and Toby approaching.  There was something in the way they moved that told they had news, and when they reached Cedar House, the whole household was breathlessly waiting for them.  The white family was gathered inside the front door, and the black people, running up from the quarters, crowded round the door on the outside, with ashen faces, for their fear of the savages was, if possible, greater than the white people’s.  All pressed around Toby, and Father Orin told the good news as quickly as he could, without taking time to dismount; but his voice trembled so that he could hardly speak, and his eyes were so full of tears that he could not see.  He was not yet able to rejoice over a victory which had cost the life of a dear friend.

“And Joe Daviess?” asked Philip Alston.

Father Orin silently turned his face toward the river and made the sign of the cross; but he turned back and patted Ruth’s head when she pressed it against Toby’s mane and burst into sobbing.

“It was he who saved the day,” the priest said huskily.  “He led the desperate charge that won the battle, when everything seemed lost.  He received his death wound in the charge, but he lived long enough to know that the victory was ours.”