CHAPTER X.
THE GREAT COUNCIL.
Natah Otann set to work immediately, with that feverish ardour thatdistinguished him. He sent emissaries in every direction to theprincipal chiefs of the western prairies, and convoked them to agreat plain in the valley of the Missouri, at a spot called "The Treeof the Master of Life," on the fourth day of the moon of the hardenedsnow. This spot was held in great veneration by the Missouri Indians,who went there constantly to hang up presents. It was an immense sandyplain, completely denuded of vegetation; in the centre of the desertrose a gigantic tree, an oak, twenty feet in circumference at least,the trunk being hollow, and the tufted branches covering an enormoussuperficies. This tree, which was a hundred and twenty feet in height,and which grew there by accident, necessarily was regarded by theIndians as something miraculous; hence the name they gave it.
On the appointed day, the Indians arrived from all sides, marching ingood order, and camping at a short distance from the spot selected forthe council. An immense fire had been kindled at the foot of the tree,and at a signal given by the drummers, or _Chichikoues_, the chiefscollected around it, a few paces behind the sachems. The Blackfeet, NezPerces, Assiniboins, Mandans, and other horsemen, formed a tremendouscordon round the council fire; while scouts traversed the desert inevery direction, to keep off intruders, and insure the secrecy of thedeliberations.
In the east the sun was pouring forth its beams; the desert, parchedand naked, was mingled with the boundless horizon; to the south, theRocky Mountains displayed the eternal snow of the summits; while in thenorth-west, a silvery ribbon indicated the course of the old Missouri.Such was the landscape, if we may call it so, where the barbarouswarriors, clothed in their strange costumes, were assembled near thesymbolic tree. This majestic sight involuntarily reminded the observerof other times and climes, when, by the light of the incendiary firesthey kindled, the ferocious comrades of Attila rushed to conquer andrejuvenate the Roman Empire.
Generally the natives of America have a Divinity, or more correctly, aGenius, at times beneficent, but more frequently hostile. The worshipof the savage is less veneration than fear. The Master of Life is anevil genius, rather than kind; hence the Indians give his name to thetree to which they attribute the same powers. Indian religions, beingall primitive, make no account of the moral being, and only dwell onthe accidents of nature, which they make into gods. These differenttribes strive to secure the favour of the deserts, where fatigue andthirst entail death, and of the rivers, which may swallow them up.
The chiefs, as we have said, were crouching round the fire, in astate of contemplative immobility, from which it might be inferredthat they were preparing for an important ceremony of their worship.Presently Natah Otann raised to his lips the long war pipe, made of ahuman thighbone, which he wore hanging round his neck, and produceda piercing and prolonged sound. At this signal, for it was one, thechiefs rose, and forming in Indian file, marched twice round the tree,singing, in a low voice, a hymn, to implore its assistance for thesuccess of their plans. At the third time of marching round, NatahOtann took off a magnificent collar of grizzly bears' claws from hisneck, and hung it to the branches of the tree, saying,--
"Master of Life, look on us with a favourable eye. I offer thee thispresent."
The other chiefs imitated his example each in turn; then they resumedtheir scats round the council fire. The pipe bearer then entered thecircle, and after the customary ceremonies, offered the calumet to thechiefs, and when each had smoked, the oldest sachem invited Natah Otannto take the word.
The Indian chief's plan was probably the most daring ever formedagainst the whites, and, as the White Buffalo said, mockingly,must offer chances of success through its improbability, becauseit flattered the superstitious ideas of the Indians, who, like allprimitive nations, place great faith in the marvellous. It is besides,the quality of oppressed nations, to whom reality never offers aughtbut disillusions and suffering, to take refuge in the supernatural,which alone offers them consolation. Natah Otann had drawn the firstidea of his plan from one of the oldest and most inveterate traditionsof the Comanches, his ancestors. This tradition, by reciting whichhis father often lulled him to sleep in his childhood, pleased hisadventurous mind; and when the hour arrived to put in execution theprojects which he had so long revolved, he invoked it, and resolved toemploy it, in order to collect the other Indian nations around him inone common whole.
When Motecuhzoma (whom Spanish writers improperly call Montezuma, aname which has no meaning, while the first signifies the _stern lord_)found himself imprisoned in his palace by that talented adventurer,Cortez, who, a few days later, tore his kingdom from him, the Emperor,who preferred to confide in greedy strangers than take refuge in themidst of his people, had a presentiment of the fate reserved for him. Afew days prior to his death, he assembled the principal Mexican chiefswho shared his prison, and addressed them thus:--
"Listen! My father, the Sun, has warned me that I shall soon return tohim. I know not how or when I am destined to die, but I am certain thatmy last hour is close at hand."
As the chiefs burst into tears at these words, for they held him ingreat veneration, he consoled them by saying--
"My last hour is near on this earth, but I shall not die, as I amreturning to my father, the Sun, where I shall enjoy a felicity unknownin this world; weep not, therefore, my faithful friends, but, on thecontrary, rejoice at the happiness which awaits me. The bearded whitemen have treacherously seized the greater portion of my empire, andthey will soon be masters of the remainder. Who can stop them? Theirweapons render them invulnerable, and they dispose at their will of thefire from heaven; but their power will end one day; they, too, will bethe victims of treachery; the penalty of retaliation will be inflictedon them in all its rigour. Listen, then, attentively, to what I amabout to ask of you; the safety of our country depends on the fidelitywith which you execute my last orders. Each of you take a title ofthe sacred fire which was formerly kindled by the Sun himself, and onwhich the white men have not yet dared to lay a sacrilegious hand toextinguish it. This fire burns before you in this golden censer; takeit unto you, not letting your enemies know what has become of it. Youwill divide the fire among you, so that each may have a sufficiency;preserve it religiously, ant never let it go out. Each morning, alteradoring it mount on the roof of your house, at sunrise, and looktoward the east; one day you will see me appear, giving my right handto my father, the Sun; then you will rejoice, for the moment of yourdeliverance will be at hand. My father and I will come to restore youto liberty, and deliver you for ever from these enemies, who have comefrom a perverse world, that rejected them from its bosom."
The Mexican chiefs obeyed the orders of their well-beloved Emperor onthe spot, for time pressed. A few days later, Motecuhzoma mounted onthe roof of his palace, and prepared to address his mutinous people,when he was struck by an arrow, it was never known by whom, and fellinto the arms of the Spanish soldiery who accompanied him. Beforebreathing his last sigh, the Emperor sat up, and raising his hands toheaven, said, with a supreme effort, to his friends assembled roundhim--"The fire! the fire! think of the fire."
These were his last words: ten minutes later he had ceased to breathe.In vain did the Spaniards, whose curiosity was strongly aroused bythis mysterious recommendation, try by all the means in their powerto penetrate its meaning; but they did not succeed in making one ofthe Mexicans they interrogated speak. All religiously preserved theirsecret, and several, indeed, died of torture, rather than reveal it.
The Comanches, and nearly all the nations of the Far West, havekept this belief intact. In all the Indian villages, the fire ofMotecuhzoma, which burns eternally is guarded by two warriors, whoremain by it for twenty-four hours without eating or drinking, whenthey are relieved by two others. Formerly the guardians remainedforty-eight hours instead of twenty-four. It frequently happenedthat they were found dead when the reliefs came, either through themephitic gases of the fire, which had great effect on
them, owing totheir long fast, or for some other reason. The bodies were taken away,and placed in a cavern, where, as the Comanches say, a serpent devouredthem.
This belief is so general, that it is not only found among the RedIndians, but also among the Manzos. Many men, considered to be welleducated, keep up, in hidden corners, the fire of Motecuhzoma, visitit every day, and do not fail at sunrise to mount on the roof oftheir houses and look towards the east, in the hope of seeing theirwell-beloved emperor coming to restore them that liberty for which theyhave sighed during so many ages, and which the Mexican Republic is farfrom having granted them.
Natah Otann's idea was this:--To tell the Indians, after narratingthe legend to them, that the time had arrived when Motecuhzoma wouldappear and act as their chief; to form a powerful band of warriors,whom he would spread along the whole American frontier, so as toattack his enemies at every point simultaneously, and not give themthe time to look about them. This project, mad as it was, especiallyin having to be executed by Indians, or men the least capable offorming alliances, which have ever caused them defeats; this project,we say, was deficient neither in boldness nor in nobility, and NatahOtann was really the only man capable of carrying it out, could he butfind, among the persons he wished to arouse, two or three docile andintelligent instruments, that would understand his idea, and heartilycooperate with him.
The Comanches, Pawnees, and Sioux were of great utility to the chief,as well as the majority of the Indians of the Far West, for theyshared in the belief on which Natah Otann based his plans, and not onlydid not need to be persuaded, but would help him in persuading theMissouri Indians by their assent to his assertions. But in so largean assembly of nations, divided by a multitude of interests, speakingdifferent languages, generally hostile to each other, how would itbe possible to establish a tie sufficiently strong to attach them inan indissoluble manner? How convince them to march together withoutjealousy? Lastly, was it reasonable to suppose that there would not bea traitor to sell his brothers, and reveal their plans to the Yankees,whoever have an eye on the movements of the Indians, for they are soanxious to be rid of them?
Still, Natah Otann did not recoil; he did not conceal from himself thedifficulties which he should have to overcome; but his courage grewwith obstacles. His resolution was strengthened, if we may use theterm, in proportion to the responsibilities which must every momentrise before him. When the sachems made him the signal to rise; NatahOtann saw that the moment had arrived to begin the difficult game hewished to play. He took the word resolutely, certain that, with the menhe had before him, all depended on the manner in which he handled thequestion, and that, the first impression once made, success was almostcertain.
"Chiefs of the Comanches, Osages, Sioux, Pawnees, Mandans, Assiniboins,Missouris, and all you that listen to me. Redskin brothers," he said,in a firm and deeply accentuated voice, "for many moons my spirit hasbeen sad. I see, with sorrow, our hunting grounds, invaded by the whitemen, grow smaller every day. We, whose innumerable peoples covered,scarce four centuries back, the immense extent of territory compassedbetween the two seas, are now reduced to a small party of warriors who,timid as antelopes, fly before our despoilers. Our sacred cities, thelast refuge of the civilization of our fathers, the Incas, will becomethe prey of those monsters with human faces who have no other god butgold. Our dispersed race will possibly soon disappear from that worldwhich it has so long possessed and governed alone. Tracked like wildanimals; brutalized by firewater, that corrosive poison invented by thewhite men for our ruin; decimated by the sword and white diseases, ourwandering tribes are now but the shadow of a people. Our conquerorsdespise our religion, and wish to bow us beneath the laws of thecrucified One. They outrage our wives; kill our children; burn ourvillages; and will reduce us, if they can, to the state of wild beasts,under the pretext of civilizing us. Indians, all you who hear me, isour blood so impoverished in our veins, and have you all renounced yourindependence! Reply, will you die as slaves, or live free?"
At these words, pronounced in aloud tone, and heightened by anenergetic gesture, a tremor ran through the assembly; brows were bentfirmly, all eyes sparkled.
"Speak, speak again, sachem of the Blackfeet," all the chiefs shoutedunanimously.
Natah Otann smiled proudly, his power over the masses was revealed tohim. He continued:--
"The hour has at length arrived, after so many hesitations, to shakeoff the shameful yoke that presses on us. Within a few days, if youplease, we will drive the whites far from our frontiers, and repay themall the evil they have done us. For a long time I have watched theAmericans and Spaniards. I know their tactics, their resources: toutterly destroy them, what do we need, my well-beloved brothers? twothings alone--skill and courage!"
The Indians interrupted him with shouts of joy.
"You shall be free," Natah Otann continued. "I will restore to you thevalleys of your ancestors, the fields where their bones are buried,and which the sacrilegious plough disperses in every direction. Thisproject, ever since I became a man, has fermented in my heart, andbecome my life. Far from me and from you the thought that I intendto force myself on you as chief, especially since the prodigy ofwhich I have been witness, in the appearance of the great emperor!No; after that supreme chief, who must guide you to liberty, you arefree to choose the man who will execute his orders, and communicatethem to you. When you have chosen him, you will obey him; follow himeverywhere; and pass with him through the most insurmountable dangers,for he will be the elect of the Sun; the lieutenant of Motecuhzoma! Donot deceive yourselves, warriors; our enemy is powerful, numerous, welldisciplined, warlike, and has, before all, the habit of conquering us,which is a great advantage to him. Name, then, this lieutenant; let hiselection be free; take the most worthy, and I will joyfully march underhis orders!"
And, after saluting the sachems, Natah Otann disappeared in a crowd ofwarriors, with calm brow, but with a heart devoured by restlessness.His eloquence, so novel to the Indians, had seduced them, and thrownthem into a species of frenzy. They considered the daring Blackfootchief a genius superior to themselves, and almost bowed the knee tohim in adoration, so cleverly had he struck the chord which musttouch their hearts. For a long time the council gave way to a sortof madness, and all spoke at once; when this emotion was calmed, thewisest of the sachems discussed the opportunity for taking up arms, andthe chances of success. It was now that the tribes of the Far West, whobelieved in the legend of the sacred fire, became so useful; at length,after a protracted discussion, opinions were unanimous for a generaluprising. The ranks, momentarily broken, were reformed, and the WhiteBuffalo, invited by the chiefs to express the opinions of the council,spoke as follows:--
"Chiefs of the allied Indian tribes, listen! This day it has beenresolved by the following chiefs:--Little Panther, Spotted Dog, WhiteBuffalo, Grizzly Bear, Red Wolf, White Fox, Tawny Vulture, GlisteningSnake, and others, each representing a nation and a tribe, that war hasbeen declared against the white men, our plunderers; and as this waris holy, and has liberty for its object, all men, women, and childrenmust take part in it, each according to their strength. This very daythe _wampums_ will be sent by the chiefs to all the Indian tribes that,owing to the distance of these hunting grounds, were unable to bepresent at this great council, in spite of their great desire to be so.I have spoken."
A long cry of enthusiasm interrupted the White Buffalo, who continued,soon after:--
"The chiefs, after ripe deliberation, assenting to the request madeto the council by Natah Otann, the first sachem of the Blackfeet,that they should appoint a lieutenant to the Emperor Motecuhzoma,sovereign-chief of the Indian warriors, have chosen, as supremeleader under the sole orders of the said Emperor, the wisest, mostprudent, and most worthy to command us. That warrior is the sachem ofthe Blackfoot Indians, of the tribe of the Kenhas, whose race is soancient, Natah Otann, the cousin of the Sun, that dazzling planet whichillumines us."
A thunder of applause greeted the last words. Natah Otann salute
d thesachems, walked into the circle, and said, in a haughty voice,--
"I accept, sachems, my brothers; we agree, I shall be dead, or you willbe free."
"May the Grizzly Bear live for ever!" the crowd shouted.
"War to the white men!" Natah Otann continued, "a war without truceor mercy. A slaughter of wild beasts, as they are accustomed to treatus. Remember the law of the prairies:--eye for eye, tooth for tooth.Let each chief send the wampum of war to his nation, for at the end ofthis moon we will arouse our enemies by a thunderbolt. At the seventhhour of this night we will meet again, to select the subaltern chiefs,number our warriors, and choose the day and hour of attack."
The chiefs bowed without replying, rejoined their escorts, and soondisappeared in a cloud of dust. Natah Otann and the White Buffaloremained alone, a detachment of Blackfeet warriors watching over themat a distance. Natah Otann, with his arms crossed and head bowed,seemed plunged in profound reflection.
"Well," the old Indian said, with an almost imperceptible shade ofirony in his voice, "you have succeeded, my son; you are happy. Yourplans will, at length, be accomplished."
"Yes," he replied, without noticing the sarcastic tone of voice; "waris declared; my plans have succeeded; but now, friend, I tremble atsuch a heavy task. Will these peculiar men thoroughly comprehend me?Will they be able to read, in my heart, all the love and adorationI feel for them? Are they ripe for liberty? perhaps they have notsuffered enough yet? Father, father, whose heart is so powerful andsoul so great: whose life was used up in numerous contests, counselme! help me! I am young and weak, and I only have a strong will and aboundless devotion to support me."
The old man smiled mournfully, and muttered, answering his own thoughtsmore than his friend:--
"Yes; my life was used up in supreme struggles: the work I helped toraise has been overthrown, but not destroyed; for a new society, fullof vitality, has risen from the ruins of a decrepit society; by ourefforts the furrow was ploughed too deeply for it ever to be filled upagain: progress marching onward, nothing can check or stop it! Do nothalt on the road you have chosen; it is the greatest and most noble agreat heart can follow."
In uttering these words, the old man had allowed his enthusiasm tocarry him away; his head was raised; his brow glistened; the expiringsun played on his face, and imparted to it an expression which NatahOtann had never seen before, and which filled him with respect. But theold man shook his head sorrowfully, and continued:--
"Child, how will you keep your promise? where will you findMotecuhzoma?"
Natah Otann smiled.
"You will soon see, my father," he said.
At the same moment, an Indian, whose panting horse seemed to breathefire through its nostrils, came up to the chiefs, where he stoppedsuddenly, as if converted into marble; without dismounting, he bentdown to Natah Otann's ear.
"Already!" the latter exclaimed, "Oh! heaven must be on my side! Thereis not a moment to lose. My horse! quick."
"What is the matter?" the White Buffalo asked.
"Nothing that relates to you at present, my father; but you shall soonknow all."
"You are going alone, then?"
"I must for a short period. Farewell!"
Natah Otann's horse uttered a snort of pain, and started at fullgallop. Ten minutes later all the Indians had disappeared, and solitudeand silence prevailed round the tree of the Master of Life.
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