could be understood by the Indian mind; but their inflated hyperbole is not now interesting.  They describe the Americans as lighting a great council-fire, sharpening tomahawks, striking the war-post, declining to give “two bucks for a blanket,” as the British wanted them to, etc.; with incessant allusions to the Great Spirit being angry, the roads being made smooth, refusing to listen to the bad birds who flew through the woods, and the like.  Occasional passages are fine; but it all belongs to the study of Indians and Indian oratory, rather than to the history of the Americans.] and that now he had ended his talk to them, and he wished them to speedily depart.

Not only the prisoners, but all the other chiefs in turn forthwith rose, and in language of dignified submission protested their regret at having been led astray by the British, and their determination thenceforth to be friendly with the Americans.

In response Clark again told them that he came not as a counsellor but as a warrior, not begging for a truce but carrying in his right hand peace and in his left hand war; save only that to a few of their worst men he intended to grant no terms whatever.  To those who were friendly he, too, would be a friend, but if they chose war, he would call from the Thirteen Council Fires [Footnote:  In his speeches, as in those of his successors in treaty-making, the United States were sometimes spoken of as the Thirteen Fires, and sometimes as the Great Fire.] warriors so numerous that they would darken the land, and from that time on the red people would hear no sound but that of the birds that lived on blood.  He went on to tell them, that there had been a mist before their eyes, but that he would clear away the cloud and would show them the right of the quarrel between the Long Knives and the King who dwelt across the great sea; and then he told them about the revolt in terms which would almost have applied to a rising of Hurons or Wyandots against the Iroquois.  At the end of his speech he offered them the two belts of peace and war.

    The Indians Make Peace.

They eagerly took the peace belt, but he declined to smoke the calumet, and told them he would not enter into the solemn ceremonies of the peace treaty with them until the following day.  He likewise declined to release all his prisoners, and insisted that two of them should be put to death.  They even yielded to this, and surrendered to him two young men, who advanced and sat down before him on the floor, covering their heads with their blankets, to receive the tomahawk. [Footnote:  I have followed the contemporary letter to Mason rather than the more elaborate and slightly different account of the “Memoir.”  The account written by Clark in his old age, like Shelby’s similar autobiography, is, in many respects, not very trustworthy.  It cannot be accepted for a moment where it conflicts with any contemporary accounts.] Then he granted them full peace and forgave