t.

When General Howard had heard out the war-chief, he at once accepted
the stipulations. President Grant had given him carte blanche in this
matter; he was sure that he could keep his promises. But Captain
Jeffords interposed an obstacle.

The last thing that he wanted was to be an Indian agent. The
government owed him about twenty thousand dollars and if he took the
office it would prevent his collecting the claims which were then
under adjudication in Washington. Besides he well knew the political
forces which were always working on an Indian agent, the strings which
were being pulled in Washington, the various grafts, big and petty, to
which one must shut his eyes if he wanted to remain in charge of a
reservation. He stated his position.

Cochise remained firm. No agent other than Jeffords. That was his
ultimatum. He would rather go on fighting until his people were
extinct than to take them back and have them robbed. General Howard
turned in appeal to the old-timer. And Captain Jeffords then
capitulated--under conditions.

He would give up the hope of collecting the money which the government
owed him and he would take charge of the new reservation. But if he
did these things he must be in complete control. His word must be law
and there must be no outside interference. If he gave the order, no
white man--not even the commander of the United States army--could
come within the boundaries of the district set apart for the Indians.
Beyond his judgment there could be no appeal. He did not purpose to
have matters taken to Washington over his head.

And, to make a long story short, General Howard not only consented to
all of this, but he saw to it that President Grant confirmed his
promises. He made a special trip to Washington and placed the matter
before the nation's chief executive, who issued the necessary orders.
And so late in 1872 Cochise and his people came back to the
reservation.

That was not all, either. They lived there, during the lifetime of
Cochise, in peace and quiet. There were thefts and there were cases of
whisky-peddling with their inevitable accompaniments in the way of
murder. There were times when the young men got restless; when passing
Apaches from the White Mountains tried to induce the tribe to rise and
leave the reservation with them, when medicine-men from these other
clans preached bloody war.

But Cochise and Captain Thomas Jonathan Jeffords attended to all of
these things as th