great caution; he supposed enquiry would be made as to the object of his visit; that his plans might not be suspected, he directed the Indians to reply to any questions that might be asked about him, by saying, that he had counselled them to cultivate the ground, abstain from ardent spirits, and live in peace with the white people.  On his return from Florida, he went among the Creeks in Alabama, urging them to unite with the Seminoles.  Arriving at Tuckhabatchee, a Creek town on the Tallapoosa river, he made his way to the lodge of the chief called the Big Warrior.  He explained his object, delivered his war-talk, presented a bundle of sticks, gave a piece of wampum and a hatchet; all which the Big Warrior took.  When Tecumseh, reading the intentions and spirit of the Big Warrior, looked him in the eye, and pointing his finger towards his face, said:  ’Your blood is white:  you have taken my talk, and the sticks, and the wampum, and the hatchet, but you do not mean to fight:  I know the reason:  you do not believe the Great Spirit has sent me:  you shall know:  I leave Tuckhabatchee directly, and shall go straight to Detroit:  when I arrive there, I will stamp on the ground with my foot, and shake down every house in Tuckhabatchee.’  So saying, he turned and left the Big Warrior in utter amazement, at both his manner and his threat, and pursued his journey.  The Indians were struck no less with his conduct than was the Big Warrior, and began to dread the arrival of the day when the threatened calamity would befal them.  They met often and talked over this matter, and counted the days carefully, to know the time when Tecumseh would reach Detroit.  The morning they had fixed upon, as the period of his arrival, at last came.  A mighty rumbling was heard—­the Indians all ran out of their houses—­the earth began to shake; when at last, sure enough, every house in Tuckhabatchee was shaken down!  The exclamation was in every mouth, ’Tecumseh has got to Detroit!’ The effect was electrical.  The message he had delivered to the Big Warrior was believed, and many of the Indians took their rifles and prepared for the war.

“The reader will not be surprised to learn, that an earthquake had produced all this; but he will be, doubtless, that it should happen on the very day on which Tecumseh arrived at Detroit; and, in exact fulfilment of his threat.  It was the famous earthquake of New Madrid, on the Mississippi.  We received the foregoing from the lips of the Indians, when we were at Tuckhabatchee, in 1827, and near the residence of the Big Warrior.  The anecdote may therefore be relied on.  Tecumseh’s object, doubtless was, on seeing that he had failed, by the usual appeal to the passions, and hopes, and war spirit of the Indians, to alarm their fears, little dreaming, himself, that on the day named, his threat would be executed with such punctuality and terrible fidelity.”

CHAPTER IX.