2ND COUNCILLOR. It is not to be thought of.
OTHER COUNCILLORS. No, no, no.
HARRISON. In further parley at the river's edge,
Scenting a coming war, he clapped his hands,
And said the English whooped his people on,
As if his braves were hounds to spring at us;
Compared our nation to a whelming flood,
And called his scheme a dam to keep it back—
Then proffered the old terms; whereat I urged
A peaceful mission to the President.
But, by apt questions, gleaning my opinion,
Ere I was ware, of such a bootless trip,
He drew his manly figure up, then smiled,
And said our President might drink his wine
In safety in his distant town, whilst we—
Over the mountains here—should fight it out:
Then entering his bark, well-manned with braves,
Bade me let matters rest till he returned
From his far mission to the distant tribes,
Waved an adieu, and, in a trice, was gone.
2ND COUNCILLOR. Your news is but an earnest of his work.
4TH COUNCILLOR. This Chief's dispatch should be our own
example.
Let matters rest, forsooth, till he can set
Our frontier in a blaze! Such cheap advice
Pulls with the President's, not mine.
HARRISON. Nor mine! The sum of my advice is to attack
The Prophet ere Tecumseh can return.
5TH COUNCILLOR. But what about the breach of your instructions?
HARRISON. If we succeed we need not fear the breach—
In the same space we give and heal the wound.
[Enter a Messenger, who hands letters to HARRISON.]
Thank you, Missouri and good Illinois—
Your governors are built of western clay.
Howard and Edwards both incline with me,
And urge attack upon the Prophet's force.
This is the nucleus of Tecumseh's strength—
His bold scheme's very heart. Let's cut it out.
Yes! yes! and every other part will fail.