At length
they came to a decision to reject the worthy captain's proposition, and
upon pretty substantial grounds, as the reader may judge.
"War," said the chiefs, "is a bloody business, and full of evil; but
it keeps the eyes of the chiefs always open, and makes the limbs of the
young men strong and supple. In war, every one is on the alert. If we
see a trail we know it must be an enemy; if the Blackfeet come to us, we
know it is for war, and we are ready. Peace, on the other hand, sounds
no alarm; the eyes of the chiefs are closed in sleep, and the young men
are sleek and lazy. The horses stray into the mountains; the women and
their little babes go about alone. But the heart of a Blackfoot is a
lie, and his tongue is a trap. If he says peace it is to deceive; he
comes to us as a brother; he smokes his pipe with us; but when he sees
us weak, and off our guard, he will slay and steal. We will have no such
peace; let there be war!"
With this reasoning Captain Bonneville was fain to acquiesce; but, since
the sagacious Flatheads and their allies were content to remain in
a state of warfare, he wished them at least to exercise the boasted
vigilance which war was to produce, and to keep their eyes open. He
represented to them the impossibility that two such considerable clans
could move about the country without leaving trails by which they might
be traced. Besides, among the Blackfeet braves were several Nez Perces,
who had been taken prisoners in early youth, adopted by their captors,
and trained up and imbued with warlike and predatory notions; these had
lost all sympathies with their native tribe, and would be prone to lead
the enemy to their secret haunts.
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