hes have left us a long, long time,
but the Apaches and Arrapahoes have not yet forgotten the
hunting-grounds where their fathers were born. When I was but a young
hunter, they would come every snow to the lodge of our Manitou, to offer
their presents. It was long before any Pale-face had passed the
mountains. Since that the leaves of the oaks have grown and died eighty
times. It is a long while for a man, but for a nation it is but as
yesterday.

"They are our children,--it would be good to have them with us; they
would share our hunts; we would divide our wealth with them. Then we
would be strong. Owato Wanisha has spoken well; he hath learned many
mysteries with the _Macota Conaya_ (black robes, priests); he is wise.
Yet, as I have said, the red-skin chiefs must ask wisdom from the Great
Master. He will let us know what is good and what is bad. At the next
moon we will return to the council. I have said."

All the chiefs departed, to prepare for their fasting and ceremonies,
while Gabriel, Roche, my old servant, and myself; concerted our measures
so as to insure the success of my enterprise. My servant I despatched
to Monterey, Gabriel to the nearest village of the Apaches, and as it
was proper, according to Indian ideas, that I should be out of the way
during the ceremonies, so as not to influence any chief; I retired with
Roche to the boat-house, to pass the time until the new moon.

Upon the day agreed upon, we were all once more assembled at the
council-ground on the shores of the Buona Ventura. The chiefs and
elders of the tribe had assumed a solemn demeanour and even the men of
dark deeds (the Medecins) and the keepers of the sacred lodges had made
their appearance, in their professional dresses, so as to impress upon
the beholders the importance of the present transaction. One of the
sacred lodge first rose, and making a signal with his hand, prepared to
speak:--

"Shoshones," said he, "now has come the time in which our nation must
either rise above all others, as the eagle of the mountains rises above
the small birds, or sink down and disappear from the surface of the
earth. Had we been left such as we were before the Pale-faces crossed
the mountains, we would have needed no other help but a Shoshone heart
and our keen arrows to crush our enemies; but the Pale-faces have double
hearts, as well as a double tongue; they are friends or enemies as their
thirst for wealth guides them. They trade