Then Calling To Him His Herald Or Crier, He Would
Order Him To Mount On Top Of The Lodge And Summon All The Tribe
To Bring In Their Peltries, And Trade With The White Man.
The
lodge would soon be crowded with Indians bringing bear, beaver,
otter, and other skins.
No one was allowed to dispute the prices
fixed by the white trader upon his articles; who took care to
indemnify himself five times over for the goods set apart by the
chief. In this way the Blackbird enriched himself, and enriched
the white men, and became exceedingly popular among the traders
of the Missouri. His people, however, were not equally satisfied
by a regulation of trade which worked so manifestly against them,
and began to show signs of discontent. Upon this a crafty and
unprincipled trader revealed a secret to the Blackbird, by which
he might acquire unbounded sway over his ignorant and
superstitious subjects. He instructed him in the poisonous
qualities of arsenic, and furnished him with an ample supply of
that baneful drug. From this time the Blackbird seemed endowed
with supernatural powers, to possess the gift of prophecy, and to
hold the disposal of life and death within his hands. Woe to any
one who questioned his authority or dared to dispute his
commands! The Blackbird prophesied his death within a certain
time, and he had the secret means of verifying his prophecy.
Within the fated period the offender was smitten with strange and
sudden disease, and perished from the face of the earth.
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