We shall not attempt to give his words,
which would require too much space, but the substance of his story
was briefly this:
As has been alluded to already, the principal chiefs, on a
suggestion of Bear's Meat, had followed the young men down the
Kalamazoo, dividing themselves by a part of their body's crossing
the stream at the first favorable spot. In this way the Indians
proceeded, sweeping the river before them, and examining every place
that seemed capable of concealing a canoe. Runners were kept in
constant motion between the several parties, in order to let the
state of the search be known to all; and, feigning to be one of
these very men, Pigeonswing had held communication with several whom
he purposely met, and to whom he imparted such invented information
as contributed essentially to send the young men forward on a false
scent. In this way, the main body of the savages descended the river
some sixty miles, following its windings, in the first day and a
half. Here Pigeonswing left them, turning his own face up stream, in
order to rejoin his friends. Of Peter he had no knowledge; neither
knowing, nor otherwise learning, what had become of the great chief.
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