to the Indians and try to get them to sell me, but they would not
agree to sell me then. They said they would come down the Sunday
following and bring me with them, perhaps they would then agree to sell
me. They complied with their promise and brought me down with them. My
friend McCauslin then inquired of them if they had agreed to sell me;
they told him they would. McCauslin then sent for the interpreter, and
the Indians asked one hundred buckskins for me in merchandize. The
interpreter asked me if I would give it? I told him I would. The Indians
then went to the traders' houses to receive their pay. They took but
seventy bucks' worth of merchandize at that time. One of the articles
they took was bread, three loaves, one for the Indian that claimed me,
one for his wife, the other one for me. I saw directly they wanted me to
go back home with them. After a little while they started and motioned
and told me I must go with them. I refused to go. The Indian fellow took
hold of my arm and tried to pull me forward. I still refused going with
them. He still continued pulling and his wife pushing me at the back. We
went scuffling along a few yards till we got before my friend
McCauslin's cabin door. He discovered the bustle and asked me what the
Indians wanted. I told him they wanted me to go home with them. He asked
me if I wanted to go. I told him no. He then told me to walk into his
cabin and sit down and he would go and bring the interpreter. I went in
and the two Indians followed me into the cabin and sat down. The
interpreter came in immediately and asked the Indians what they wanted.
They told him they wanted me to go home with them. The interpreter then
asked if I wanted to go with them. I told him no. He then told the
Indians they had sold me and that they had nothing more to do with me,
that I was a freeman, that I might stay where I pleased. They then said
they had not received all their pay. The interpreter then asked them why
they did not take it all? They said they expected I would go home with
them and remain with them until I got an opportunity to go home. The
interpreter then told them they could get the balance of their pay. They
said if I did not go home with them they must have thirty bucks more.
The interpreter asked me if I was willing to give it. I told him yes. I
did not want to go back again. The Indians then went and took their
thirty dollars of balance and thirty more and went off home. I then owed
th