“As you saw, I came among you unarmed, showing that my mission was one of peace. I am a man of peace and have never yet shed blood of or wronged either Indian or Long Knife. Before coming to Kentucke I lived in the Jackson River Country and my father’s lodge was the stopping place of all Indians. They were not only entertained as guests but treated as friends.
“When a little boy I was taken prisoner by Logan, who driven to violence by the murder of all his kindred, thought for a while to even scores; but he learned before [pg 240] his death that an act of violence following another in retaliation, neither righted wrong nor salved injury.
“He brought me to Shauane-Town on the Scioto. I was adopted into the family of Tecumseh and the Prophet, in place of Tecumseh’s twin brother who had died. While they are warriors, I belong to the priesthood; and my body, which no Indian at peace with the Mingoes dare mutilate, bears the marks of dedication to the Great Spirit.
“When I was taken prisoner, a little girl, now a grown woman and your prisoner, was carried off and she by adoption is a Mingo; the daughter of Logan, himself an adopted chief of the Sciotha tribe. He was murdered at Detroit as you have heard.
“Are you at peace with the Mingoes? If so, what right have you to hold the daughter of Logan a prisoner? Does she not speak the Mingo tongue? Is that acquired in a day? Has she not told you she is the daughter of Logan? As I now say and as Deer Runner will tell you.
“Her white father was aboard the boat and was shot and scalped by you; but his daughter did not fight, she killed no one; her hands are not stained by blood. She merely sought to escape as the wild duck flees from the eagle; swimming way out into the river, she was pursued by Gray Wolf and his men in a canoe and taken prisoner. By the law between allies, and you are allies of the Mingoes, you cannot hold her prisoner unless she has killed one of your people and then her fate is fixed by the family of whom the one killed was a member. Only three of your warriors were killed in the battle, a fourth has since died. None of these were kindred of Gray Wolf, nor was he even wounded. What right has he to hold this woman prisoner?”
[pg 241] (The Chief) “How do you know all this?”
“I saw the battle from the Pinnacle at Cumberland Gap, more than two hundred miles away. If any doubt, let him ask what occurred and I will tell him.”
(Gray Wolf) “How many braves were in the canoe when we took the woman? And if any here were present point them out.”
“Five, you sat in the bow, and after the woman had dived three times, she came up within reach, when you caught her by the hair and pulled her aboard. You and the brave on your left held her until you came ashore. The fourth one from you on the right was with you and the seventh. The fifth man is not here; he has gone up the river.”