vident that begging was
its object. In his prelude, the chief laid claim to all the country in
sight as the hunting grounds of the Comanche tribe,--an intimation
that we were intruders. He spoke of the great slaughter of the buffalo
by the white hide-hunters, and the consequent hunger and poverty
amongst his people. He dwelt on the fact that he had ever counseled
peace with the whites, until now his band numbered but a few squaws
and papooses, the younger men having deserted him for other chiefs of
the tribe who advocated war on the palefaces. When he had fully stated
his position, he offered to allow us to pass through his country in
consideration of ten beeves. On receiving this proposition, all of us
dismounted, including the two Apaches, the latter seating themselves
in their own fashion, while we whites lounged on the ground in truly
American laziness, rolling cigarettes. In dealing with people who know
not the value of time, the civilized man is taken at a disadvantage,
and unless he can show an equal composure in wasting time, results
will be against him. Flood had had years of experience in dealing with
Mexicans in the land of _manana_, where all maxims regarding the value
of time are religiously discarded. So in dealing with this Indian
chief he showed no desire to hasten matters, and carefully avoided all
reference to the demand for beeves.

[Illustration: MEETING WITH INDIANS]

His first question, instead, was to know the distance to Fort Sill and
Fort Elliot. The next was how many days it would take for cavalry to
reach him. He then had us narrate the fact that when the first herd of
cattle passed through the country less than a month before, some bad
Indians had shown a very unfriendly spirit. They had taken many of the
cattle and had killed and eaten them, and now the great white man's
chief at Washington was very much displeased. If another single ox
were taken and killed by bad Indians, he would send his soldiers from
the forts to protect the cattle, even though their owners drove the
herds through the reservation of the Indians--over the grass where
their ponies grazed. He had us inform the chief that our entire herd
was intended by the great white man's chief at Washington as a present
to the Blackfeet Indians who lived in Montana, because they were good
Indians, and welcomed priests and teachers amongst them to teach them
the ways of the white man. At our foreman's request we then informed
the chief