The Canadian Brothers | Page 9

instance, the fullest extent of approbation. The secret bond of sympathy
which chained his interest to the Commodore, might have owed its
being to another cause. In the countenance of the latter there was much
of that eagerness of expression, and in the eye that vivacious fire, that
flashed, even in repose, from his own swarthier and more speaking
features; and this assimilation of character might have been the means
of producing that preference for, and devotedness to, the cause of the

naval commander, that subsequently developed itself in the chieftain.
In a word, the General seemed to claim the admiration and the respect
of the Indian-- the Commodore, his admiration and friendship.
The greeting between these generous leaders was brief. When the first
salutations had been interchanged, it was intimated to Tecumseh,
through the medium of an interpreter, then in attendance on the General,
that a war-council had been ordered, for the purpose of taking into
consideration the best means of defeating the designs of the Americans,
who, with a view to offensive operations, had, in the interval of the
warrior's absence, pushed on a considerable force to the frontier. The
council, however, had been delayed, in order that it might have the
benefit of his opinions, and of his experience in the peculiar warfare
which was about to be commenced.
Tecumseh acknowledged his sense of the communication with the bold
frankness of the inartificial son of nature, scorning to conceal his just
self-estimate beneath a veil of affected modesty. He knew his own
worth, and while he over-valued not one iota of that worth, so did he
not affect to disclaim a consciousness of the fact--that within his
swarthy chest and active brain there beat a heart and lived a judgment,
as prompt to conceive and execute as those of the proudest he that ever
swayed the destinies of a warlike people. Replying to the
complimentary invitation of the General, he unhesitatingly said he had
done well to await his (Tecumseh's) arrival, before he determined on
his course of action, and that he should now have the full benefit of his
opinions and advice.
If the chief had been forcibly prepossessed in favour of the naval
commander, the latter had not been less interested. Since his recent
arrival, to assume the direction of the fleet, Commodore Barclay had
had opportunities of seeing such of the chiefs as were then assembled at
Amherstburg; but great as had been his admiration of several of these,
he had been given to understand they fell far short, in every moral and
physical advantage, of what their renowned leader would be found to
possess, when, on his return from the expedition in which he was
engaged, fitting opportunity should be had of bringing them in personal
proximity. This admission was now made in the fullest sense, and as
the warrior moved away to give the greeting to the several chiefs, and
conduct them to the council hall, the gallant sailor could not refrain

from expressing, in the warmest terms to General Brock, as they moved
slowly forward with the same intention, the enthusiastic admiration
excited in him by the person, the manner, and the bearing, of the noble
Tecumseh.
Again the cannon from the battery and the shipping pealed forth their
thunder. It was the signal for the commencement of the council, and the
scene at that moment was one of the most picturesque that can well be
imagined. The sky was cloudless, and the river, no longer ruffled by the
now motionless barks of the recently arrived Indians, yet obeying the
action of the tide, offered, as it glided onward to the lake, the image of
a flood of quick-silver; while, in the distance, that lake itself, smooth as
a mirror, spread far and wide. Close under the bank yet lingered the
canoes, emptied only of their helmsmen (the chiefs of the several tribes,)
while, with strange tongues and wilder gestures, the warriors of these,
as they rested on their paddles, greeted the loud report of the cannon--
now watching with eager eye the flashes from the vessel's sides, and
now upturning their gaze, and following with wild surprise, the
deepening volumes of smoke that passed immediately over their heads,
from the guns of the battery, hidden from their view by the elevated
and overhanging bank. Blended with each discharge arose the wild yell,
which they, in such a moment of novel excitement, felt it impossible to
control, and this, answered from the Indians above and borne in echo
almost to the American shore, had in it something indescribably
startling. On the bank itself the effect was singularly picturesque. Here
were to be seen the bright uniforms of the British officers, at the head
of whom was the tall and martial figure of General