t with a cordial reception. The
Shawanoes supposed that the missionary was in pursuit of their lands;
and a party of them determined to assassinate him privately, for fear
of exciting other Indians to hostility. The attempt upon his life was
made, but strangely defeated. Chapman relates the manner of it, which
he obtained from a companion of the count, who did not publish it in
his memoirs, lest the United Brethren might suppose that the subsequent
conversion of the Shawanoes was the result of their superstition. It is
as follows:

"Zinzendorf was alone in his tent, seated upon a bundle of dry weeds,
which composed his bed, and engaged in writing, when the assassins
approached to execute their bloody commission. It was night, and the
cool air of September had rendered a small fire necessary for his
comfort and convenience. A curtain, formed of a blanket, and hung upon
pins, was the only guard to his tent. The heat of this small fire had
aroused a large rattlesnake, which lay in the weeds not far from it;
and the reptile, to enjoy it the more effectually, had crawled slowly
into the tent, and passed over one of his legs, undiscovered. Without,
all was still and quiet, except the gentle murmur of the river, at the
rapids about a mile below. At this moment, the Indians softly
approached the door of his tent and slightly removing the curtain,
contemplated the venerable man, too deeply engaged in the subject of
his thoughts to notice either their approach, or the snake which lay
before him. At a sight like this, even the heart of the savages shrunk
from the idea of committing so horrid an act; and, quitting the spot,
they hastily returned to the town, and informed their companions, that
the Great Spirit protected the white man, for they had found him with
no door but a blanket, and had seen a large rattlesnake crawl over his
legs without attempting to injure him. This circumstance, together with
the arrival soon afterwards of Conrad Weizer, the interpreter, procured
the count the friendship of the Indians, and probably induced some of
them to embrace Christianity."

When the war between the French and the English occurred in 1754, the
Shawanoes on the Ohio took sides with the former; but the appeal to
those residing at Wyoming to do the same, was ineffectual. The
influence of the count's missionary efforts had made them averse to
war. But an event which happened soon afterward, disturbed the peace of
their settlement, and