use fire-arms and ammunition. This was all very well until the
Great Father sent another kind of men out there,--men who drank
whisky; men who were so bad that the Great Father could not keep
them at home, so he sent them out there."

_Reception of Red Cloud at Home._

Doubtless speculators and contractors were disappointed when they
heard, on General Smith's return, of Red Cloud's satisfaction, and what
he said about being peaceable, and using his influence among his
warriors. A thousand lodges were gathered to receive him, and the
demonstrations made over his return exceeded any the oldest Indian had
ever seen before.

On the way out, Red Cloud gave General Smith his reason for asking the
government for the seventeen horses. He did not really need them, but
made up his mind that if he had been sent back on foot from Pine Bluff,
or Fort Laramie, his tribes might think he was lightly esteemed by our
authorities, and thereupon they might begin to despise him. His
influence would decrease, and he might be unsuccessful in preventing
war. He merely wished to accept of them as a tribute to his exalted
position as a great warrior among his people. The general said that his
appearance, with his whole party well mounted, had the desired effect,
and Red Cloud's warriors saw at a glance that the chief was believed to
be a great warrior by the Great Father at Washington.

CONCLUSION.

Boys love fair play, and I know they will make every allowance for the
poor Indian, who is, in his wild state, indeed a savage, born and bred
up among the wild beasts of the forest; untutored and cruel to his
enemies, whether man or beast. We must take him as we find him, then,
and not as some sensation writers would make us believe, to be _more
noble and generous_ than many white men. For we may find many noble
examples of generosity among them, in freeing captives and forgiving
wrongs done to them; but they have been for over two hundred years
victims of the white man's dishonest dealings, and I think that we
would do pretty much as the Indian does, if we were Indians, and had
been taught the lesson of our forefathers' wrongs. The Indian agents
have been in former years mostly dishonest, and cheated those they
should have remembered were simple children of the forest; and though
they were knowing enough to perceive they were badly dealt with and did
not get their due, could not tell just where the cheating came in. You
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