It was settled that Wayne was to be met with determined resistance, and the savages were sanguine of success.
British muskets had been freely distributed from Fort Miami by McKee and Elliot, whose faces, in the broad glare of the council-fires, glowed with triumph. It was mainly their work, for their bitter speeches carried the day when clear-minded chiefs advocated peace, without the needless effusion of blood.
Joe Girty reached the Ottawa town a short time after nightfall, and instead of making his way directly to the council-house, he sought his own lodge, a substantial wooden structure that stood in the outer circle of wigwams. He had slightly altered his mind regarding the immediate disposition of Nanette Froisart—for such was the name of his fair young prisoner. Were he to bear her into the council, unannounced to the assembled braves, she might be torn from his arms by the furious bands, and undergo a comparatively painless death. When, on the other hand, if he would leave her in his lodge, while he announced her capture, she would stand a fairer chance of being burned alive.
The last course he determined to pursue.
He reached his wigwam without being seen, for the women were congregated at the council-house, and hailing with loud acclamations the hot speeches of the younger braves.
The heavy door of the lodge was closed, and the renegade thundered a series of loud blows upon it with his coarse boot.
At length the portal yielded, and a hideous hag, about the renegade’s own age, greeted his flashing eyes.
“Was ye asleep, ye old lynx?” cried Girty, almost crunching her shoulder in his giant fist. “No! ye was at the bottle, durn ye!” and he shook his Indian wife till her teeth chattered as though ague-stricken. “Now, mind ye; touch that bottle ag’in to-night, and Joe Girty ’l be a widderer ’ginst day, cursed if he won’t. Where’s ’Watha? At the council, hey! Good place for the white spawn! See here, old woman, I’ve brought ye the devil’s progeny,” and he held his little captive up before the squaw. “Ah, ye know who she is!” he cried with delight, as he noticed the flash of recognition that darted from the hag’s bloodshot eyes. “Ha! we’ll have a big burnin’ spree, mebbe to-night yit. Now see hyar. Come, shake off that drunken fit, what’s comin’ on ye, fur ye’ve got to do guard duty fur a short time,” he shook her again. “I’m going down to the council, an’ tell the red devils I’ve catched the young She-wolf. Now ye’ve got to watch her till I come back, and, mind ye, Loosa, ef she tries to get away,” and he glanced at Nanette, “send the contents of that pistol through her head. Do ye hear, old lynx?”
“The white Ottawa shall be obeyed,” stammered the hag, glad to get rid of her brute of a master. “My eyes shall never sleep.”
“They won’t if ye hain’t got too much whisky in ye,” returned Girty, “an’ afore I go I’ll jest guard against that.”