refused to return
to the South, Sitting Bull closing the conference with the words, "Once
I was rich, plenty of money, but the Americans stole it all in the Black
Hills. What should I return for? To have my horse and my arms taken
away? I have come to remain with the White Mother's children."

The next step taken by the American Government which seemed anxious to
have the Indians return South and settle down on certain conditions, was
to send special Commissioners in the persons of General Terry and
General O'Neill, replaced by Lawrence, to visit Canada, hold conference
with Sitting Bull and the other chiefs to that end. The Canadian
Government adhered to its position of being willing to protect the
Indians so long as they were on British soil. Hence no undue pressure to
leave would be brought on those who had sought asylum under the British
flag, but at the same time both the Ottawa authorities and the Police
would have been glad to see them go voluntarily. Those who had knowledge
of the situation and the outlook knew that Canada would not set aside
land as reserves for American Indians, and they knew also that with the
early disappearance of buffalo and other game in the presence of
advancing civilization, the burden of feeding and caring for these
aliens would be very heavy.

Word was wired from Ottawa to Colonel MacLeod to meet the American
Commissioners with an escort at the boundary and if possible to get the
Sioux leaders to come to Fort Walsh to meet them and thus save the
Commissioners the necessity for a long journey. Accordingly, MacLeod met
the Americans at the line and escorted them to Fort Walsh, to which
point Inspector Walsh brought Sitting Bull and the other chiefs in due
course. Walsh had great difficulty in getting the Indians to come, as
they said they did not trust the Americans and feared that the latter
might bring soldiers across to attack them. The fact that the day Walsh
was in the camp on his errand of persuasion a band of Nez Perces men,
women and children, wounded and bleeding, after a fight across the line,
had come there for refuge, did not make the Inspector's task any easier.
But because they had received the assurance of both MacLeod and Walsh
that no one could cross the line after them, the chiefs came--Sitting
Bull, Bear's Cap, Spotted Eagle, Flying Bird, Whirlwind Bear, Iron Dog,
The Crow, Bear that Scatters, Little Knife, Yellow Dog and some others
of less importance. The conferenc