CHAPTER V.

The dinner party at Colonel D'Egville's was composed in

a manner to inspire an English exclusive with irrepressible

honor. At the suggestion of General Brock, Tecumseh had

been invited, and, with him, three other celebrated Indian

chiefs, whom we beg to introduce to our readers under

their familiar names--Split-log--Round-head--and Walk-

in-the-water--all of the formidable nation of the Hurons.

In his capacity of superintendant of Indian affairs,

Colonel D'Egville had been much in the habit of entertaining

the superior chiefs, who, with a tact peculiar to men of

their sedate and serious character, if they displayed

few of the graces of European polish, at least gave no

manifestation of an innate vulgarity. As it may not be

uninteresting to the reader to have a slight sketch of

the warriors, we will attempt the portraiture.

The chief Split-log, who indeed should rather have been

named Split-ear, as we shall presently show, was afflicted

with an aldermanic rotundity of person, by no means common

among his race, and was one, who from his love of ease

and naturally indolent disposition, seemed more fitted

to take his seat in the council than to lead his warriors

to battle. Yet was he not, in reality, the inactive

character be appeared, and more than once, subsequently,

he was engaged in expeditions of a predatory nature,

carrying off the customary spoils. We cannot import a

better idea of the head of the warrior, than by stating,

that we never recal that of the gigantic Memnon, in the

British Museum, without being forcibly reminded of

Split-log's. The Indian, however, was notorious for a

peculiarity which the Egyptian had not. So enormous a

head, seeming to require a corresponding portion of the

several organs, nature had, in her great bounty, provided

him with a nose, which, if it equalled not that of

Smellfungus in length, might, in height and breadth, have

laughed it utterly to scorn. Neither, was it a single,

but a double nose--two excrescences, equalling in bulk

a moderate sized lemon, and of the spongy nature of a

mushroom, bulging out, and lending an expression of owlish

wisdom to his otherwise heavy features. As on that of

the Memnon, not a vestige of a hair was to be seen on

the head of Split-log. His lips were, moreover, of the

same unsightly thickness, while the elephantine ear had

been slit in such a manner, that the pliant cartilage,

yielding to the weight of several ounces of lead which

had for years adorned it, now lay stretched, and coquetting

with the brawny shoulder on which it reposed. Such was

the Huron, or Wyandot Chief, whose cognomen of Split-log

had, in all probability, been derived from his facility

in "suiting the action to the word;" for, in addition to

his gigantic nose, he possessed a fist, which in size

and strength might have disputed the palm with Maximilian

himself: although his practice had chiefly been confined

to knocking down his drunken wives, instead of oxen.

The second Chief, Round-head, who, by the way, was the

principal in reputation after Tecumseh, we find the more

difficulty in describing from the fact of his having had

few or none of those peculiarities which we have, happily

for our powers of description, been enabled to seize hold

of in Split-log. His name we believe to have been derived

from that indispensable portion of his frame. His eye

was quick, even penetrating, and his stem brow denoted

intelligence and decision of character. His straight,

coal black, hair, cut square over the forehead, fell long

and thickly over his face and shoulders. This, surmounted

by a round slouched hat, ornamented with an eagle's

feather, which he ordinarily wore and had not even now

dispensed with, added to a blue capote or hunting frock,

produced a tout ensemble, which cannot be more happily

rendered than by a comparison with one of his puritanical

sly-eyed namesakes of the English Revolution.

Whether our third hero, Walk-in-the-water, derived his

name from any aquatic achievement which could possibly

give a claim to its adoption, we have no means of

ascertaining; but certain it is that in his features he

bore a striking resemblance to the portraits of Oliver

Cromwell. The same small, keen, searching eye--the same

iron inflexibility of feature, together with the long

black hair escaping from beneath the slouched hat, (for

Walk-in-the-water, as well as Round-head, was characterized

by an unconscious imitation of the Roundheads of the

revolution)--all contributed to render the resemblance

as perfect, as perfection of resemblance can be obtained

where the physical, and not the moral, man, forms the

ground of contrast.

Far above these in nobleness of person, as well as in

brilliancy of intellect, was the graceful Tecumseh. Unlike

his companions, whose dress was exceedingly plain, he

wore his jerkin or hunting coat, of the most beautifully

soft and pliant deer skin, on which were visible a variety

of tasteful devices exquisitely embroidered with the

stained quills of the porcupine. A shirt of dazzling

whiteness was carefully drawn over his expansive chest,

and in his equally white shawl-turban was placed an

ostrich feather, the prized gift of the lady of the

mansion. On all occasions of festivity, and latterly in

the field, he was wont thus to decorate himself; and

never did the noble warrior appear to greater advantage

than when habited in this costume. The contrast it offered

to his swarthy cheek and mobile features, animated as

they were by the frequent flashing of his eagle eye,

seldom failed to excite admiration in the bosoms of all

who saw him.

The half hour that elapsed between the arrival of the

several guests and the announcement of dinner, was passed

under the influence of feelings almost as various in kind

as the party itself. Messieurs Split-log, Round-head,

and Walk-in-the-water, fascinated by the eagles on the

buttons of Major Montgomerie's uniform, appeared to regard

that officer, as if they saw no just cause or impediment

why certain weapons dangling at their sides should not

be made to perform, and that without delay, an incision

in the cranium of their proprietor. True, there was a

difficulty. The veteran Major was partially bald, and

wanted the top knot or scalping tuft, which to a true

warrior was indispensable; not that we mean to insinuate

that either of these chiefs would so far have forgotten

the position in which that gentleman stood, as to have

been tempted into any practical demonstration of their

hostility: but there was a restlessness about the eye

of each that, much like the instinct of the cat, which

regards with natural avidity the bird that is suffered

to go at large within his reach, without daring openly

to attack it, betrayed the internal effort it cost them

to lose sight of the enemy in the prisoner and friend of

their superintendent. The Major, on the other hand,

although satisfied he was under the roof of hospitality,

did not at first appear altogether at his ease, but,

while he conversed with the English officers, turned ever

and anon an eye of distrust on the movements of his

swarthy fellow guests. On the arrival of Tecumseh, who,

detained until a late hour by the arrangements he had

been making for the encampment and supplies of his new

force, was the last to make his appearance, the Major's

doubts passed entirely away. It was impossible to be in

the presence of this chieftain, and fail, even without

any other index to his soul than what the candour of his

expression afforded, to entertain all the security that

man may repose on man. He had in him, it is true, too

much of the sincerity of nature to make any thing like

a friendly advance to one of a people to whom he owed

all the misfortunes of his race, and for whom he had

avowed an inextinguishable hostility of heart and purpose;

but, unless when this night with strict propriety be

exercised, the spirit of his vengeance extended not; and

not only would he have scorned to harm a fallen foe, but

his arm would have been the first uplifted in his defence.

Notwithstanding the glance of intelligence which Captain

Granville had remarked, and which we had previously stated

to have been directed by Miss Montgomerie to her captor

a few hours before, there was nothing in her manner daring

dinner to convey the semblance of a prepossession. True,

that in the tumultuous glow of gratified vanity and

dawning love, Gerald Grantham had executed a toilet into

which, with a view to the improvement of the advantage

he imagined himself to have gained, all the justifiable

coquetry of personal embellishment had been thrown; but

neither the handsome blue uniform with its glittering

epaulette, nor the beautiful hair on which more than

usual pains had been bestowed, nor the sparkling of his

dark eye, nor the expression of a cheek, rendered doubly

animated by excitement, nor the interestingly displayed

arm en echarpe--none of these attractions, we repeat,

seemed to claim even a partial notice from her they were

intended to captivate. Cold, colourless, passionless,

Miss Montgomerie met him with the calmness of an absolute

stranger; and when, with the recollection of the

indescribable look she had bestowed upon him glowing at

his heart, Gerald again sought in her eyes some trace of

the expression that had stirred every vein into transport,

he found there indifference the most complete. How great

his mortification was we will not venture to describe,

but the arch and occasional raillery of his lively cousin,

Julia D'Egville, seemed to denote most plainly that the

conqueror and the conquered had exchanged positions.

Nor was this surprising; Miss Montgomerie's travelling

habit had been discarded for the more decorative ornaments

of a dinner toilet, in which, however, the most marked

simplicity was preserved. A plain white muslin dress gave

full developement to a person, which was of a perfection

that no dress could have disguised. It was the bust of

a Venus, united to a form, to create which would have

taxed the imaginative powers of a Praxiteles--a form so

faultlessly moulded that every movement presented some

new and unpremeditated grace. What added to the surpassing

richness of her beauty was her hair, which, black, glossy,

and of eastern luxuriance, and seemingly disdaining the

girlishness of curls, reposed in broad Grecian bands,

across a brow, the intellectual expression of which they

contributed to form. Yet, never did woman exhibit in her

person and face, more opposite extremes of beauty. If

the one was strikingly characteristic of warmth, the

other was no less indicative of coldness. Fair, even to

paleness, were her cheek and forehead, which wore an

appearance of almost marble immobility, save when, in

moments of oft recurring abstraction, a slight but marked

contraction of the brow betrayed the existence of a

feeling, indefinable indeed by the observer, but certainly

unallied to softness. Still was she beautiful--coldly,

classically, beautiful--eminently calculated to inspire

passion, but seemingly incapable of feeling it.

The coldness of Miss Montgomerie's manner was no less

remarkable. Her whole demeanour was one of abstraction.

It seemed as if heedless, not only of ceremony, but of

courtesy, her thoughts and feelings were far from the

board of whose hospitality she was partaking. Indeed,

the very few remarks she made during dinner referred to

the period of departure of the boat, in which she was to

be conveyed to Detroit, and on this subject she displayed

an earnestness, which, even Grantham thought, might have

been suppressed in the presence of his uncle's family.

Perhaps he felt piqued at her readiness to leave him.

Under these circumstances, the dinner was not, as might

be expected, particularly gay. There was an 'embarras'

among all, which even the circulating wine did not wholly

remove. Major Montgomerie was nearly as silent as his

niece. Mrs. D'Egville, although evincing all the kindness

of her really benevolent nature--a task in which she was

assisted by her amiable daughters, still felt that the

reserve of her guest insensibly produced a corresponding

effect upon herself, while Colonel D'Egville, gay,

polished, and attentive, as he usually was, could not

wholly overcome an apprehension that the introduction of

the Indian Chiefs had given offence to both uncle and

niece. Still, it was impossible to have acted otherwise.

Independently of his strong personal attachment to

Tecumseh, considerations involving the safety of the

Province, threatened as it was, strongly demanded that

the leading Chiefs should be treated with the respect

due to their station; and moreover, while General Brock,

and Commodore Barclay were present, there could be no

ground for an impression that slight was intended. Both

these officers saw the difficulty under which their host

laboured, and sought by every gentlemanly attention, to

remove whatever unpleasantness might lurk in the feelings

of his American guests.

The dessert brought with it but little addition to the

animation of the party, and it was a relief to all, when,

after a toast proposed by the General, to the "Ladies of

America," Mrs. D'Egville made the usual signal for

withdrawing.

As soon as they had departed, followed a moment or two

afterwards by Tecumseh and Gerald Grantham, Messieurs

Split-log, Round-head, and Walk-in-the-Water, deliberately

taking their pipe-bowl tomahawks from their belts,

proceeded to fill them with kinni-kinnick, a mixture of

Virginia tobacco, and odoriferous herbs, than which no

perfume can be more fragrant. Amid the clouds of smoke

puffed from these at the lower end of the table, where

had been placed a supply of whiskey, their favorite

liquor--did Colonel D'Egville and his more civilized

guests quaff their claret; more gratified than annoyed

by the savoury atmosphere wreathing around them, while,

taking advantage of the early departure of the abstemious

Tecumseh, they discussed the merits of that Chief, and

the policy of employing the Indians as allies, as will

be seen in the following chapter:--