Convinced that Dorothy was one of them he asked Deer Runner to take him in the small canoe to the village and ordered the other four Indians to hasten to Shauane-Town, and tell the Prophet of Dorothy’s capture and ask his assistance.
At daylight he and Deer Runner left for the village in the small canoe, while the others were yet making preparations to continue up the Ohio to the mouth of the Scioto, the Mingo country.
Just before sundown, John and Deer Runner beached their canoe at the Indian village; while the Indians in sullen, almost hostile, silence watched them. The tribe at the time was at war with the whites and they resented and were curious to know the purpose of this unarmed white man who dared to come among them.
John would have been made prisoner and tortured except for his adoption and rank as a Mingo chieftain; which was satisfactorily established by the girdle and the tattoo marks on his chest, both of which he was forced to exhibit. When it was understood that by adoption he was a brother of Tecumseh and the Prophet, he was assigned a lodge and given food.
When he asked to talk with the white prisoners the request was denied; though the chief took him so near that he and Dorothy recognized and waved a greeting to each other. He was told that the following morning a council would be called and he would be given an opportunity to explain why he had visited their village, after which he might be permitted to confer with the prisoners.
[pg 239] He lay down on the deer skins over which he had spread his blanket and slept through the night. Dorothy was alive and well; and he was near to protect her; and friends would soon arrive to help in her rescue.
When he awoke the sun was filling the valley with its first light; the dew sparkled on the leaves and grass; his morning prayer was a song of praise; his heart was so full of the love of life that he felt attuned with and understood as his own tongue the songs of the birds that warbled so sweetly in the tree tops along the river.
Walking up the river beyond sight of the village, he undressed on a bar of white sand and swam across and back again; then returned to the village, where he found Deer Runner waiting to begin their breakfast of meat, green corn and potatoes, all of which had been cooked together with some seasoning herbs by an old woman, who had been assigned as their servant.
On the way to the council hall he passed near Dorothy, who waved a good morning; and entered, feeling fit to plead with confidence even so momentous a cause as involved her freedom—and his happiness.
The chief asked that he explain in the Mingo dialect, which all understood, being members of the Confederacy, the purpose of his visit to their village.