'to avalanche upon the people
when you cuts the trail of your ancestral tribe ag'in?'

"'No,' retorts the savage, shakin' his head ontil the skelp-lock whips
his y'ears, an' all mighty decisive; 'no; won't tell Injun nothin'.'

"'Why not?' I demands.

"'If I tell,' he says, 'they no believe. They think it all heap lie.'

"Son, consider what a example to travellers is set by that ontootered
savage? That's what makes me say thar be traits possessed of Injuns,
personal, which a paleface might improve himse'f by copyin'.

"Bein' white myse'f, I'm born with notions ag'in Injuns. I learns of
their deestruction with relief, an' never sees one pirootin' about,
full of life an' vivacity, but the spectacle fills me with vain
regrets. All the same thar's a load o' lies told East concernin' the
Injun. I was wont from time to time to discuss these red folks with
Gen'ral Stanton, who for years is stationed about in Arizona,
an'--merely for the love he b'ars to fightin'--performs as chief of
scouts for Gen'ral Crook.

"'Our divers wars with the Apaches,' says Gen'ral Stanton, 'comes more
as the frootes of a misdeal by a locoed marshal than anything else
besides. When Crook first shows up in Arizona--this is in the long
ago--an' starts to inculcate peace among the Apaches, he gets old
Jeffords to bring Cochise to him to have a pow-wow. Jeffords rounds up
Cochise an' herds him with soft words an' big promises into the
presence of Crook. The Grey Fox--which was the Injun name for
Crook--makes Cochise a talk. Likewise he p'ints out to the chief the
landmarks an' mountain peaks that indicates the Mexican line. An' the
Grey Fox explains to Cochise that what cattle is killed an' what skelps
is took to the south'ard of the line ain't goin' to bother him a bit.
But no'th'ard it's different; thar in that sacred region cattle killin'
an' skelp collectin' don't go. The Grey Fox shoves the information on
Cochise that every trick turned on the American side of the line has
done got to partake of the characteristics of a love affair, or the
Grey Fox with his young men in bloo--his walk-a-heaps an' his
hoss-warriors--noomerous as the grass, they be--will come down on
Cochise an' his Apaches like a coyote on a sage hen or a pan of milk
from a top shelf an' make 'em powerful hard to find.

"'Cochise smokes an' smokes, an' after considerin' the bluff of the
Grey Fox plenty profound, allows he won't call it. Thar shall be peace
betwee