A gibbet was accordingly constructed of oars; the chief of the village and his people were assembled, and the culprit was produced, with his legs and arms pinioned.  Clarke then made a harangue.  He reminded the tribe of the benefits he had bestowed upon them during his former visits, and the many thefts and other misdeeds which he had overlooked.  The prisoner, especially, had always been peculiarly well treated by the white men, but had repeatedly been guilty of pilfering.  He was to be punished for his own misdeeds, and as a warning to his tribe.

The Indians now gathered round Mr. Clarke, and interceded for the culprit.  They were willing he should be punished severely, but implored that his life might be spared.  The companions, too, of Mr. Clarke, considered the sentence too severe, and advised him to mitigate it; but he was inexorable.  He was not naturally a stern or cruel man; but from his boyhood he had lived in the Indian country among Indian traders, and held the life of a savage extremely cheap.  He was, moreover, a firm believer in the doctrine of intimidation.

Farnham, a clerk, a tall “Green Mountain boy” from Vermont, who had been robbed of a pistol, acted as executioner.  The signal was given, and the poor Pierced-nose resisting, struggling, and screaming, in the most frightful manner, was launched into eternity.  The Indians stood round gazing in silence and mute awe, but made no attempt to oppose the execution, nor testified any emotion when it was over.  They locked up their feelings within their bosoms until an opportunity should arrive to gratify them with a bloody act of vengeance.

To say nothing of the needless severity of this act, its impolicy was glaringly obvious.  Mr. M’Lennan and three men were to return to the post with the horses, their loads having been transferred to the canoes.  They would have to pass through a tract of country infested by this tribe, who were all horsemen and hard riders, and might pursue them to take vengeance for the death of their comrade.  M’Lennan, however, was a resolute fellow, and made light of all dangers.  He and his three men were present at the execution, and set off as soon as life was extinct in the victim; but, to use the words of one of their comrades, “they did not let the grass grow under the heels of their horses, as they clattered out of the Pierced-nose country,” and were glad to find themselves in safety at the post.

Mr. Clarke and his party embarked about the same time in their canoes, and early on the following day reached the mouth of the Wallah-Wallah, where they found Messrs. Stuart and M’Kenzie awaiting them; the latter having recovered part of the goods stolen from his cache.  Clarke informed them of the signal punishment he had inflicted on the Pierced-nose, evidently expecting to excite their admiration by such a hardy act of justice, performed in the very midst of the Indian country, but was mortified at finding it strongly censured as inhuman, unnecessary, and likely to provoke hostilities.