Although most
of the Indians scented the remains of the whiskey out of love for
the liquor, a few of their number reasoned on the whole transaction
with quite as much acuteness as could have been done by the
shrewdest natural philosopher living. To them it was very apparent
that no great length of time, a few hours at most, could have
elapsed since that whiskey was spilled; and human hands must have
brought it there, in the first place, and poured it on the ground,
in the second. There must have been a strong reason for such an act,
and that reason presented itself to their minds with unerring
accuracy. Their own approach must have been seen, and the liquor was
destroyed because it could not be removed in time to prevent its
falling into their hands. Even the precise manner in which the
whiskey had been disposed of was pretty nearly conjectured by a few
of the chiefs, acute and practised as they were; who, accustomed to
this species of exercise of their wits, had some such dexterity in
examining facts of this nature, and in arriving at just results, as
the men of the schools manifest in the inquiries that more
especially belong to their habits and training.
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