r tents and gathering
brushwood to make fires, for the November air was chill.
Although no attack was anticipated, Harrison arranged
his camp as if expecting battle, and posted around it a
thin line of sentries.

Darkness fell upon the two encampments. The weary soldiers
were sleeping on their arms; the Prophet and his counsellors
sat about their council fire, eager and alert, earnestly
discussing the situation. Tecumseh's parting injunction
had been to maintain peace at all hazards until his
return. But the Prophet saw himself surrounded by intrepid
warriors who would dare anything at his command, and his
ambition was sorely tempted. In point of numbers his
force was equal to that of the Americans, and the latter,
moreover, were without the protection of fortifications.
Visions of certain victory passed before his mind. He was
still smarting from Harrison's stinging message to the
tribes five years before, and not too well pleased with
Tecumseh's rising fame, which threatened to eclipse his
own. Moved by these thoughts, the Prophet yielded to the
counsel of his boldest warriors and decided upon battle.

Hurried preparations were then made to take the enemy by
surprise. There was no moon and the sky was clouded.
Nature herself apparently was aiding the Prophet's plans.
All being ready, he concocted some charmed fluid, over
which he muttered curious incantations. He assured his
credulous followers that half the enemy were mad and the
remainder dead; and he solemnly promised them that bullets
would glance harmlessly from their own bodies. The
superstitious Indians, thus excited to an intense pitch
of religious fanaticism, were prepared to dare anything.

Shortly before daylight on November 7 the whole Indian
force crept stealthily through the grass towards the
fires of Harrison's camp. The hush that precedes the dawn
was broken only by the soft patter of rain. A watchful
sentinel discerned in the dawning light the spectre-like
form of the foremost savage. He fired at once, and the
shot roused the sleeping camp. It told the Indians that
they were discovered, and with wild war-whoops they rushed
against the American position. The line of sentries was
quickly broken through; but the soldiers sprang to arms;
camp-fires were trodden out; and Indians and whites fought
furiously in the darkness. Perched on a safe eminence,
the Prophet looked down upon the fight, chanting his
war-song further to excite the savages, and