82 The Winning of the West 



they would darken the land, and from that time on 

 the red people would hear no sound but that of the 

 birds that lived on blood. He went on to tell them 

 that there had been a mist before their eyes, but that 

 he would clear away the cloud and would show them 

 the right of the quarrel between the Long Knives 

 and the King who dwelt across the great sea; and 

 then he told them about the revolt in terms which 

 would almost have applied to a rising of Hurons 

 or Wyandots against the Iroquois. At the end of 

 his speech he offered them the two belts of peace 

 and war. 



They eagerly took the peace belt, but he declined 

 to smoke the calumet, and told them he would not 

 enter into the solemn ceremonies of the peace treaty 

 with them until the following day. He likewise 

 declined to release all his prisoners, and insisted that 

 two of them should be put to death. They even 

 yielded to this, and surrendered to him two young 

 men, who advanced and sat down before him on 

 the floor, covering their heads with their blankets, 

 to receive the tomahawk. 32 Then he granted them 

 full peace and forgave the young men their doom, 

 and the next day, after the peace council, there was 



making, the United States were sometimes spoken of as the 

 Thirteen Fires, and sometimes as the Great Fire. 



3-2 I have followed the contemporary letter to Mason rather 

 than the more elaborate and slightly different account of the 

 "Memoir." The account written by Clark in his old age, 

 like Shelby's similar autobiography, is, in many respects, not 

 very trustworthy. It can not be accepted for a moment 

 where it conflicts with any contemporary accounts. 



