The corporal, too, was the dupe of Peter's artifices.
This man had heard so many stories to the Indian's prejudice, at the
different posts where he had been stationed, as at first to render
him exceedingly averse to making the present journey in his company.
The necessity of the case, as connected with the preservation of his
own life after the massacre of Fort Dearborn, and the influence of
the missionary, had induced him to overlook his ancient prejudices,
and to forget opinions that, it now occurred to him, had been
founded in error. Once fairly within the influence of Peter's wiles,
a simple-minded soldier like the corporal, was soon completely made
the Indian's dupe. By the time the canoe reached the mouth of the
Kalamazoo, as has been related, each of these men placed the most
implicit reliance on the good faith and friendly feelings of the
very being whose entire life, both sleeping and waking thoughts,
were devoted, not only to his destruction, but to that of the whole
white race on the American continent. So bland was the manner of
this terrible savage, when it comported with his views to conceal
his ruthless designs, that persons more practised and observant than
either of his two companions might have been its dupes, not to say
its victims.
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