, and there laid
siege to Congress as soon as the members began to assemble. The twenty
original homesteaders were taken as the text for most impassioned
appeals by local orators, and their melancholy situation was skilfully
enlarged upon. They were described as hardy and industrious patriots,
hemmed in by sullen savages, with no outlet for trade and scant
pasturage for their flocks--in nightly fear of the torch and the
scalping-knife.

To Curtis, these settlers were by no interpretation martyrs in the cause
of civilization--they were quite other. His birth, his military
training, and his natural refinement tended to make him critical of
them. They were to him, for the most part, "poor whites," too pitiless
to be civilized, and too degenerate to have the interest of their
primitive red neighbors. "The best of them," he said to Jennie, "are
foolhardy pioneers who have exiled their wives and children for no good
reason. The others are cattlemen who followed the cavalry in order to
fatten their stock under the protection of our guidon."

The citizens of Pinon City wondered why their delegates made so little
impression on the department, but Streeter was not left long in doubt.

The Secretary interrupted him in the midst of his first presentation of
the matter.

"Mr. Streeter, you are a cattleman, I believe?"

Streeter looked a little set back. "I am--yes, sir, Mr. Secretary."

The Secretary took up a slip of paper. "Are you the Streeter located on
the reservation itself?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, you are an interested witness. How can you expect me to take your
word against that of Captain Curtis? He tells me the Tetongs are
peaceful, and quick to respond to fair treatment. The department has
absolute confidence in Captain Curtis, and you are wasting time in the
effort to discredit him. The tribe will _not_ be removed. Is there any
other question you would like to raise?"

Streeter took his dismissal hard. He hurried at once to Brisbane, his
face scarlet with rage. "He turned me down," he snarled, "and he's got
to suffer for it. There's a way to get at him, and you must find it."

Brisbane was too crafty to promise any definite thing. "Now wait a
moment, neighbor; never try to yank a badger out of his den--wait and
catch him on the open plain. We must sound the Committee on Indian
Affairs, and then move on the House. If we can't put through our removal
bill we'll substitute the plan for buying out the settlers. If