220 BOUQUET IN THE INDIAN COUNTRY. [1764, Oct. 



women, and children ; whether adopted into your 

 tribes, married, or living among you under any 

 denomination or pretence whatsoever. And you 

 are to furnish these prisoners with clothing, pro- 

 visions, and horses, to carry them to Fort Pitt. 

 When you have fully complied with these condi- 

 tions, you shall then know on what terms you may 

 obtain the peace you sue for." 



This speech, with the stern voice and counte- 

 nance of the speaker, told with chilling effect 

 upon the awe -stricken hearers. It quelled their 

 native haughtiness, and sunk them to the depths 

 of humiliation. Their speeches in reply were dull 

 and insipid, void of that savage eloquence, which, 

 springing from a wild spirit of independence, has 

 so often distinguished the forest orators. Judging 

 the temper of their enemies by their own insatiable 

 thirst for vengeance, they hastened, with all the 

 alacrity of terror, to fulfil the prescribed conditions, 

 and avert the threatened ruin. They dispersed to 

 their different villages, to collect and bring in the 

 prisoners ; while Bouquet, on his part, knowing 

 that his best security for their good faith was to 

 keep up the alarm which his decisive measures 

 had created, determined to march yet nearer to 

 their settlements. Still following the course of 

 the Muskingum, he descended to a spot near its 

 confluence with its main branch, which might be 

 regarded as a central point with respect to the sur- 

 rounding Indian villages. Here, with the exception 

 of the distant Shawanoe settlements, they were all 

 within reach of his hand, and he could readily 



