More than this
no Indian was to be permitted to know, until the mission of this
oracle and chief was completed.
Had one enlightened by the education of a civilized man been there,
to watch the movements and countenance of Peter as he scented the
whiskey, and looked in vain for the cause of the odor, and for a
clew to the mystery which so much perplexed the Pottawattamies, he
would probably have discovered some reason to distrust the sincerity
of this remarkable savage's doubts. If ever Peter was an actor, it
was on that occasion. He did not, in the least, fall into any of the
errors of his companions; but the scent a good deal confounded him
at first. At length he came to the natural conclusion, that this
unusual odor was in some way connected with the family he had left
on the other shore; and from that moment his mind was at ease.
It did not suit the views of Peter, however, to explain to the
Pottawattamies that which was now getting to be so obvious to
himself. On the contrary, he rather threw dust into the eyes of the
chiefs, with a view to bring them also under the influence of
superstition. After making his observations with unmoved gravity, he
promised a solution of the whole affair when they should again meet
in the Openings, and proposed to recross the river.
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