“When the red skins said so to the warriors of the last forts they took, they said true; but when they went to the first, and said that all the rest had fallen, they used deceit.  A great nation should overcome their enemies like warriors, and not seek to beguile them with their tongues under the edge of the scalping knife!”

“Why did the Saganaw come into the country of the red skins?” haughtily demanded the chief.  “Why did they take our hunting grounds from us?  Why have they strong places encircling the country of the Indians, like a belt of wampum round the waist of a warrior?”

“This is not true,” rejoined the governor.  “It was not the Saganaw, but the warriors of the pale flag, who first came and took away the hunting grounds, and built the strong places.  The great father of the Saganaw had beaten the great father of the pale flag quite out of the Canadas, and he sent his young men to take their place and to make peace with the red skins, and to trade with them, and to call them brothers.”

“The Saganaw was false,” retorted the Indian.  “When a chief of the Saganaw came for the first time with his warriors into the country of the Ottawas, the chief of the Ottawas stood in his path, and asked him why, and from whom, he came?  That chief was a bold warrior, and his heart was open, and the Ottawa liked him; and when he said he came to be friendly with the red skins, the Ottawa believed him, and he shook him by the hand, and said to his young men, ’Touch not the life of a Saganaw; for their chief is the friend of the Ottawa chief, and his young men shall be the friends of the red warriors.’  Look,” he proceeded, marking his sense of the discovery by another of those ejaculatory “Ughs!” so expressive of surprise in an Indian, “at the right hand of my father I see a chief,” pointing to Captain Erskine, “who came with those of the Saganaw who first entered the country of the Detroit;—­ask that chief if what the Ottawa says is not true.  When the Saganaw said he came only to remove the warriors of the pale flag, that he might be friendly and trade with the red skins, the Ottawa received the belt of wampum he offered, and smoked the pipe of peace with him, and he made his men bring bags of parched corn to his warriors who wanted food, and he sent to all the nations on the lakes, and said to them, ’The Saganaw must pass unhurt to the strong hold on the Detroit.’  But for the Ottawa, not a Saganaw would have escaped; for the nations were thirsting for their blood, and the knives of the warriors were eager to open their scalps.  Ask the chief who sits at the right hand of my father,” he again energetically repeated, “if what the Ottawa says is not true.”