So put me in canoe, and meant to take Chippewa to Chicago to torture
him--but too much wind. So, when meet friend in t'odder canoe, come
back here to wait little while."
This was the simple explanation of the manner in which Pigeonswing
had fallen into the hands of his enemies. It would seem that
Elksfoot had come in a canoe from the mouth of the St. Joseph's to a
point about half-way between that river and the mouth of the
Kalamazoo, and there landed. What the object of the party was, does
not exactly appear, though it is far from being certain that it was
not to seize the bee-hunter, and confiscate his effects. Although le
Bourdon was personally a stranger to Elksfoot, news flies through
the wilderness in an extraordinary manner; and it was not at all
unlikely that the fact of a white American's being in the openings
should soon spread, along with the tidings that the hatchet was dug
up, and that a party should go out in quest of his scalp and the
plunder. It would seem that the savage tact of the Chippewa detected
that in the manner of the Pottawattamie chief, which assured him the
intentions of the old warrior were not amicable; and that he took
the very summary process which has been related, not only to secure
HIS scalp, but effectually to put it out of his power to do any
mischief to one who was an ally, and by means of recent confidence,
now a friend.
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