ome
will stay to be the last. The snow melts from the hills, but there is
some left for the last; we are left for the last, like the withered
leaf and little spot of snow. Leave to us the little we have, let us
die where our fathers have died, and let us sleep where our kindred
sleep; and when the last is gone, then take our lands, and with your
plough tear up the mould upon our graves, and plant your corn above
us. There will be none to weep at the deed, none to tell the
traditions of our people, or sing the death-song above their
graves--none to listen to the wrongs and oppressions the red man bore
from his white brother, who came from the home the Great Spirit gave
him, to take from the red man the home the Great Spirit gave him. We
are few and weak, you are many and strong, and you can kill us and
take our homes; but the Great Spirit has given us courage to fight for
our homes, if we may not live in them--and we will do it--and this is
our talk, our last talk."

He folded back the blanket he had thrown from his shoulders, and,
followed by his band, he stalked majestically away. They had broken up
their camp and returned to their homes upon the Tallapoosa.

Unawed by the defection of the Tuscahatchees, the band attached to
Hopothlayohola, McIntosh went on to complete the treaty. This chief,
because he had been the friend of the United States in the then recent
war, assumed to be the principal chief of the nation, as he held the
commission of a brigadier-general from the United States; a
commission, however, which only gave him command with his own people.
This assumption was denied by Hopothlayohola, chief of the
Tuscahatchees, Tuskega, and other chiefs of the nation, who insisted
upon the ancient usages, and the power attaching through these to the
recognized head-chief of the nation. Strong representations and
protests against the treaty were sent to Washington, and serious
complications were threatened, very nearly producing collision between
the State of Georgia and the General Government. The hostility to
McIntosh and his party culminated in a conspiracy for his
assassination. Fifty warriors were selected, headed by a chief for the
purpose. These received their orders, which were that on a day
designated they should concentrate at a given spot, and at night
proceed to the house of McIntosh, in secret, and surrounding it at or
near daylight, call him up, and as he came forth, all were to fire
upon him. His bro