land from us. But I have seen the
papers with the marks of our chiefs on them. Seven different times Sauk
and Fox chiefs have made their marks on papers agreeing to give up all
claim to the land east of the Great River. The long knives say our
chiefs were paid in gold for the land."

As his benign gaze swept the assembly, he said, "It is right for a brave
to go to war when he is strong enough to make war. He does not go
because he wants to be killed, because he wants to leave his women and
children unprotected. He knows he may die, but he does not look for
death."

He Who Moves Alertly was no longer smiling. He touched his fingertips to
his eyes, then raised his arms to the sky. "May Earthmaker strike me
blind if I do not speak the truth.

"We are not strong enough to make war on the long knives. I have
traveled in the lands of the Americans, all the way to the eastern sea.
I have seen so many long knives that I could not count them all."

White Bear felt more and more uneasy as he listened. Black Hawk and all
the other braves of the British Band looked on He Who Moves Alertly as
an enemy. But White Bear knew that the chief in the buffalo headdress
was speaking the truth. Perhaps not about the treaties, but surely about
the vast numbers of long knives.

White Bear saw again the thousands of blue-uniformed soldiers he had
seen marching in New York on the Fourth of July a year ago, and the
other thousands he had seen in his vision, fighting and dying but still
advancing on some strange battlefield.

He Who Moves Alertly said, "Owl Carver and Black Hawk say the Potawatomi
and Winnebago will aid the British Band, and other tribes from farther
away. I say none of them will help. This quarrel over Saukenuk is not
their quarrel, and they have made their own peace with the long knives.

"The Winnebago Prophet says the British will send us guns and
ammunition, even men. I say this is foolish talk. You call yourselves
the British Band, and think the British are your great friends. Many
summers ago, yes, the British were at war with the Americans and got
Sauk and Fox and many other tribes to help them. But when that war was
over, our people gained nothing and lost much. Many tribes had to give
up land to pay for fighting on the British side. Now the British do not
care about us. The British pale eyes and the American pale eyes are at
peace.

"I say to those who will listen to me--come with me. I will lead you
deep into