At the time of the delivery of this speech, the head chiefs of the Shawanoes were absent from Greenville.  The Prophet, after listening patiently to it, requested the interpreter to write down the following answer, which was transmitted to the governor.

“Father,—­I am very sorry that you listen to the advice of bad birds.  You have impeached me with having correspondence with the British; and with calling and sending for the Indians from the most distant part of the country, ’to listen to a fool that speaks not the words of the Great Spirit, but the words of the devil.’  Father, those impeachments I deny, and say they are not true.  I never had a word with the British, and I never sent for any Indians.  They came here themselves to listen, and hear the words of the Great Spirit.

“Father, I wish you would not listen any more to the voice of bad birds; and you may rest assured that it is the least of our idea to make disturbance, and we will rather try to stop any such proceedings than to encourage them.”

The appeal of the governor, as may be inferred from the evasive and cunning answer of the Prophet, produced no change in his measures, nor did it arrest the spread of the fanaticism among the Indians which his incantations had set afloat.  The happiness of the Indians was the great idea which Tecumseh and his brother promulgated among their followers as being the object of their labors.  This was to be attained by leading more virtuous lives, by retaining their lands, and in simply doing what the government of the United States had frequently urged upon them, effecting an extended and friendly union of the different tribes.  These plausible reasons, backed by the superstitious belief of the Indians in the inspired character of the Prophet, and the insidious efforts of the British agents, in fomenting discontent among them, were sufficient to keep alive the excitement, and even extend the circle of its influence.  Thus ended the year 1807.

The reader may learn the extraordinary success of the Prophet in spreading his influence among the remote tribes, by a reference to the narrative of Mr. John Tanner.  This man had been taken captive in Boone county, Kentucky, when a boy; had been raised by the Indians, and was at this time, living among the Ojibbeways, who reside far up the lakes.

News reached that remote tribe that a great man had arisen among the Shawanoes, who had been favored by a revelation of the mind and will of the Great Spirit.  The messenger bearing this information to them, seemed deeply penetrated with the sacred character of his mission.  Upon his arrival among them, he announced himself after a mysterious silence, as the forerunner of the great Prophet, who was shortly to shake hands with the Ojibbeways, and explain to them more fully his inspired character, and the new mode of life and conduct which they were hereafter to pursue.  He then gravely repeated to them the Prophet’s