Volume 1

386 LE borgne's gentle art of peace.
some of the Assiniboines ; but Le Borgne, who was by
this time joined by many of his own people, kept them
at bay by flourishing his battle-ax. He desired them to
desist ; saying that if any of them were imprudent enough
to hurt an Assiniboine whilst under his protection, he might
advance and make the attempt, but the event would show
who would be the most pitiful. Many of our party having
assembled and surrounded the Assiniboines, the Schians
were prevented from approaching within reach. Le Borgne
then ordered his people to clear the way for them to enter
the camp, which was accordingly done, notwithstanding
the Schians were so anxious to oppose it that they offered
Le Borgne five horses, not to interfere in the business.
But he instantly presented these to the Assiniboines, as
a convincing proof of his determination to defend them,
conducted them to our tent, and placed a guard of young
men over them. As our tent was not sufificiently large for
us all, he separated some in other tents, and put a strong
guard over each of them for the night. The Schians
appeared enraged, and their chiefs made continual rounds
on horseback, haranguing in their own language, whilst
the principal men of our party did the same. The uproar
did not cease until dark, when matters appeared to be
somewhat more settled ; some of those who had before
appeared most vexed came into our tent and smoked with
our great men for some time ; but the countenances of
both parties betrayed the inward working of their minds,
and it was evident that they were not pleased or even satisfied
with each other. They often attempted to force a
smile, but the expression was sinister.
Soon after the uproar had abated, Le Borgne sent orders
for the women to
unload and turn out their horses to feed.
He had also desired us to unload and make ourselves
easy, for as long as he could hold his battle-ax we had
nothing to dread from the Schians ; but he told us to tie
our horses near the tent, and to be ready at a moment's
warning in case of a surprise, as he was uncertain how