s action to a fat
dog, that carries its tail upon its back, but when frightened, drops it
between its legs and runs off.

Father, listen! The Americans have not yet defeated us by land;
neither are we sure that they have done so by water.

We wish to remain here, and fight the enemy, should they appear. If
they defeat us, we will then retreat with our father.

At the battle of the Rapids [Fallen Timbers] last war, the Americans
certainly defeated us; and when we returned to our father's fort at
that place, the gates were shut against us. Now instead of that, we
see our British father making ready to march out of his garrison.

Father! You have got the arms and ammunition which our great father
sent for his red children. If you have an idea of going away, give
them to us, and you may go and welcome. Our lives are in the hands of
the Great Spirit. We are resolved to defend our lands, and if it be
his will, we wish to leave our bones upon them.

General Proctor writhed under this speech, but he had to swallow it.
He might have done better by taking council with Tecumseh and attacking
the Americans at the instant of their landing on the Canadian shore.
The Indians would have fought very hard, even yet, for him. But he
ordered the retreat again, he burned Fort Maiden, and marched inland up
the Thames River of southwestern Ontario.

Tecumseh went unwillingly. His Indians were down-hearted. General
Harrison crossed from Detroit, and pursued. Tecumseh felt the sting.

"We are now going to follow the British," he said to Jim Blue-jacket,
son of old Chief Blue-jacket, "and I believe we shall never return."

He rode with General Proctor in a buggy, and suggested several places
that looked good for making a stand.

Once General Proctor agreed. It was indeed an excellent spot, where a
large creek joined the Thames.

"We will here defeat General Harrison or leave our bones," he declared.

That was a talk right to Tecumseh's liking.

"When I look upon these two streams they remind me of the Wabash and
the Tippecanoe of my own country," he said hopefully.

But after Tecumseh had gladly arranged his warriors, General Proctor
decided to leave them as a rear guard and to march on with his
soldiers. The Americans brought up ten cannon, and Tecumseh was
wounded in the left arm, and the Indians had to retreat, also.

On the fourth of October, which was a few days afterward, at another
good place Tecumseh said t