e feasted as became ambassadors; and
General Howard ate with a relish one evening a stew which he afterward
learned was made from the meat of a fat half-grown colt.

The conference went on at a leisurely rate; but at that it was
conducted much more swiftly than most discussions in which Indians
have taken part, for since the party had come to these heights they
had sent back no word of how they were faring, and they dared not drag
out the business to too great a length lest an expedition come after
them. Such a development would effectually stop the negotiations and,
in all probability, forever prevent their renewal.

General Howard told Cochise his purpose in coming to Arizona, and
dwelt with emphasis on the fact that President Grant had sent him. The
name of this famous warrior of the white men had weight with the
leader of the Chiracahuas. If the man who led the armies of the great
father to victory was behind this movement, he must at least respect
the overtures. Howard went on to say that all the President wanted was
peace with the Indians; to get them back on the reservation and to
treat them fairly.

Cochise replied with a long statement of his own grievances beginning
with the incident wherein Lieutenant Bascom was a main figure; he told
of other cases wherein the white man had not shown up well. Many
promises had been made to the Apaches but none had been kept. Still he
was willing to go on with this thing; President Grant was a mighty
warrior, and Captain Jeffords had vouched for his envoy's honesty.

Thus they sat within the rude shelter of boughs and skins, smoking and
talking while the naked braves passed outside eying them through the
doorway with sharp sidelong glances, and lean withered squaws cackled
all day long among the vermin-ridden lodges about them.

Then Cochise announced that he and his people would go back to live
upon a reservation and to eat the white man's rations--on certain
conditions. The reservation must be in their own country; he named a
portion of the Sulphur Springs valley and the adjoining Chiracahuas.
And the agent must be Captain Jeffords.

There was justice in these conditions. The tribe had always roved over
the country which Cochise named. As for the agent, it was a notorious
fact that about nine-tenths of the Indian troubles originated through
dishonesty of officials; either they were thieves or their friends
were, which amounted to the same thing. And Jeffords was hones