“Ah! Bill Weatherford, have we got you at last?”
With a glance of fire at Big Warrior, Weatherford replied with an oath:—
“Traitor! if you give me any insolence, I will blow a ball through your cowardly heart!”
General Jackson now came running out of the tent.
“How dare you,” exclaimed the General furiously, “ride up to my tent after having murdered the women and children at Fort Mims?”
“General Jackson,” replied Weatherford with dignity, “I am not afraid of you. I fear no man, for I am a Creek warrior.
“I have nothing to request in behalf of myself. You can kill me if you desire. But I come to beg you to send for the women and children of the war-party, who are now starving in the woods. Their fields and cribs have been destroyed by your people, who have driven them to the woods without an ear of corn. I hope that you will send out parties who will conduct them safely here, in order that they may be fed.
“I exerted myself in vain to prevent the massacre of the women and children at Fort Mims. I am now done fighting. The Red Sticks are nearly all killed. If I could fight you any longer, I would most heartily do so.
“Send for the women and children. They never did you any harm. But kill me, if the white people want it done.”
While he was speaking, a crowd of officers and soldiers gathered around the tent. Associating the name of Weatherford with the oft-told horrors of the massacre, and not understanding what was going forward, the soldiers cast upon the Chief glances of hatred and aversion. Many of them cried out:—