8o The Winning of the West 



in a house in the town, but he took good care to se- 

 cretly fill a large room adjoining his own with armed 

 men, while the guards were kept ready for instant 

 action. To make his show of indifference complete,^ 

 he "assembled a Number of Gentlemen and Ladies 

 and danced nearly the whole Night." The perplexed 

 savages, on the other hand, spent the hours of dark- 

 ness in a series of councils among themselves. 



Next morning he summoned all the tribes to a 

 grand council, releasing the captive chiefs, that he 

 might speak to them in the presence of their friends 

 and allies. The preliminary ceremonies were care- 

 fully executed in accordance with the rigid Indian 

 etiquette. Then Clark stood up in the midst of the 

 rings of squatted warriors, while his riflemen clus- 

 tered behind him in their tasseled hunting-shirts, 

 travel-torn and weather-beaten. He produced the 

 bloody war-belt of wampum, and handed it to the 

 chiefs whom he had taken captive, telling the as- 

 sembled tribes that he scorned alike their treachery 

 and their hostility; that he would be thoroughly 

 justified in putting them to death, but that instead 

 he would have them escorted safely from the town, 

 and after three days would begin war upon them. 

 He warned them that if they did not wish their own 

 women and children massacred, they must stop kill- 

 ing those of the Americans. Pointing to the war- 

 belt, he challenged them, on behalf of his people, 

 to see which would make it the most bloody; and 

 he finished by telling them that while they stayed in 

 has camp they should be given food and strong 



