speech of five minutes duration; occasionally
turning his sinister visage upon the prisoners, with an expression of
mortal hatred; gesticulating the while in that vehement manner which
would have left no doubts on their minds as to the nature of his
discourse, had they not previously known him to be their determined foe.
He narrated to the savages, clearly and briefly, the wrongs which had
been done them, as well as himself, by the whites; how, as the ally and
friend of the red-man, he had been cursed, defied and treated with much
contumely, by those here present; how their friends had followed and
slaughtered his braves; how the whites were every day becoming stronger
and more aggressive; how that, unless speedily exterminated, they would
presently drive the red-men from their hunting grounds, burn their
wigwams, and murder their wives and children; referred them, as a proof,
to the sacking and burning of the Chillicothe and Piqua villages, on the
Little Miami and Mad rivers, the year preceding, by General Clark and
his men;[15] and wound up by demanding the death of the prisoners at the
stake, and a speedy and bloody retaliation upon the pioneers of
Kentucky.

As Girty concluded his speech, which was listened to in breathless
silence, there was a great sensation in the house, and an almost
unanimous grunt of approval from the chiefs and braves there assembled.
It needed but this, to arouse their vindictive passions against the
white invader to the extreme; and they bent upon the unfortunate
prisoners, eyes which seemed inflamed with rage and revenge. Girty
perceived, at a glance, that he had succeeded to the full of his heart's
desire; and with a devilish smile of satisfaction on his features, he
drew back among the warriors, to listen to the harangues of the others.

Black Hoof was the next to follow the renegade, in a similar but more
eloquent strain; during which his countenance became greatly animated;
and it was easy for the prisoners to perceive--who could not understand
a word he uttered--that he spoke with great enthusiasm. He also pressed
upon his companions the vast importance of exterminating the whites,
ere they, as he expressed it, became as the leaves of the forest, and
covered the red-man's soil; that, for this purpose, they should prepare
themselves as soon as possible, to open a deadly, unyielding warfare
upon the frontiers; but said, withal, that he was opposed to burning
the prisoners--as that was