When the general horror and dismay was at its height, the Blackbird
himself was struck down with the malady. The poor savages, when they
saw their chief in danger, forgot their own miseries, and surrounded
his dying bed. His dominant spirit, and his love for the white men,
were evinced in his latest breath, with which he designated his place of
sepulture. It was to be on a hill or promontory, upwards of four hundred
feet in height, overlooking a great extent of the Missouri, from whence
he had been accustomed to watch for the barks of the white men. The
Missouri washes the base of the promontory, and after winding and
doubling in many links and mazes in the plain below, returns to within
nine hundred yards of its starting-place; so that for thirty miles
navigating with sail and oar the voyager finds himself continually near
to this singular promontory as if spell-bound.
It was the dying command of the Blackbird that his tomb should be on
the summit of this hill, in which he should be interred, seated on his
favorite horse, that he might overlook his ancient domain, and behold
the barks of the white men as they came up the river to trade with his
people.
His dying orders were faithfully obeyed. His corpse was placed astride
of his war-steed and a mound raised over them on the summit of the hill.
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