f was forced to return. Soon afterwards His Excellency
again halted at Grand River on his way back. The Indians
entertained him in royal style, performing the calumet
dance, the feather dance, and several other dances of
their tribe.

In the middle of the summer of 1793 a great assembly of
Indians took place at Miami Rapids. Commissioners who
were sent to represent the United States were not allowed
to approach the place of meeting. Brant made three
speeches, urging upon the Indians the advisability of
peace. But the red men were still headstrong, and the
commissioners had to go away without having reached any
understanding with them.

The end of the struggle, however, was coming fast. In
1794 General Wayne marched to the neighbourhood of Fort
Miami with a numerous force, defeated the Indians at the
Fallen Timbers, and drove them before him in all directions.
Crestfallen and heartsore, they saw that the day of the
white man had come at last. Brant stood by as their helper
to the very end, but it availed them little. The Black
Snake, as they called General Wayne, had beaten them,
and they knew he would beat them again. The tribesmen
who had come from the far west withdrew sullenly across
the Mississippi, the other races submitted, and the Treaty
of Greenville was signed with General Wayne on August 3,
1795. The ox-cart began to rumble north of the Ohio; the
tall forests fell before the settler's axe, and the red
man lived and walked no more alone by the 'River Beautiful.'

CHAPTER XIV

THE CHURCH BELL RINGS

Joseph Brant had been a valiant warrior; he had dealt
with the affairs of the Six Nations wisely and well. But
he had never forgotten that one of the first duties of
any ruler is to be, in some sense, a priest unto his
people. From a lad, he seems to have been a devoted
Christian. The alarms of war had drawn his mind for a
period, it is true, to worldly considerations alone, but
now that strife had ceased he became once more the friend
of the missionary and sought to supply the spiritual
needs of the tribes over which his influence was felt.

Like every Indian, the wonderful things which Brant saw
all about him in nature held his mind in a spell. To him
there was One who had created all things, and who was
ever ready and willing to sustain His children. On one
occasion in council Brant spoke of the primitive freedom
of the Indian people, and then exclaimed: 'This country
was given to us by the Gr