aiding the amateur hunter in his
search for game and giving him the first shot at what was started. At
Horse Creek, however, Tom stopped, and, turning to his companion,
said, "Now you hi-e-pus (go)!" That was frankness indeed, and quite
refreshing to us who had not been honored by it. But equally outspoken,
without intending offense, I found them always. You could not mistake
their meaning, did you understand their words. Diplomacy seems, as yet,
to be an unlearned art among them.

Ko-Nip-Ha-Tco.

Here is another illustration of their frankness. One Indian,
Ko-nip-ha-tco ("Billy"), a brother of "Key West Billy," has become so
desirous of identifying himself with the white people that in 1879 he
came to Capt. F. A. Hendry, at Myers, and asked permission to live with
him. Permission was willingly given, and when I went to Florida this
"Billy" had been studying our language and ways for more than a year.
At that time he was the only Seminole who had separated himself from his
people and had cast in his lot with the whites. He had clothed himself
in our dress and taken to the bed and table, instead of the ground and
kettle, for sleep and food. "Me all same white man," he boastfully told
me one day. But I will not here relate the interesting story of
"Billy's" previous life or of his adventures in reaching his present
proud position. It is sufficient to say that, for the time at least,
he had become in the eyes of his people a member of a foreign community.
As may be easily guessed, Ko-nip-ha-tco's act was not at all looked upon
with favor by the Indians; it was, on the contrary, seriously opposed.
Several tribal councils made him the subject of discussion, and once,
during the year before I met him, five of his relatives came to Myers
and compelled him to return with them for a time to his home at the Big
Cypress Swamp. But to my illustration of Seminole frankness: In the
autumn of 1880, Mat-te-lo, a prominent Seminole, was at Myers and
happened to meet Captain Hendry. While they stood together "Billy"
passed. Hardly had the young fellow disappeared when Mat-te-lo said to
Captain Hendry, "Bum-by. Indian kill Billy." But an answer came. In this
case the answer of the white man was equally frank: "Mat-te-lo, when
Indian kill Billy, white man kill Indian, remember." And so the talk
ended, the Seminole looking hard at the captain to try to discover
whether he had meant what he said.

Intellectual Ability.

In range of i