f was a tall, fine fellow, and with beautiful
symmetry of figure. He spoke Spanish well, and the conversation was
carried on in that tongue until the evening, when I addressed him in
Shoshone, which beautiful dialect is common to the Comanches, Apaches,
and Arrapahoes, and related to him the circumstances of our captivity on
the shores of the Colorado of the West. As I told my story the chief
was mute with astonishment, until at last, throwing aside the usual
Indian decorum, he grasped me firmly by the hand. He knew I was neither
a Yankee nor a Mexican, and swore that for my sake every Canadian or
Frenchman falling in their power should be treated as a friend. After
our meal, we sat comfortably round the fires, and listened to several
speeches and traditions of the warriors.

One point struck me forcibly during my conversation with that noble
warrior. According to his version, the Comanches were in the beginning
very partial to the Texians, as they were brave, and some of them
generous. But he said, that afterwards, as they increased their numbers
and established their power, they became a rascally people, cowards and
murderers. One circumstance above all fired the blood of the Comanches,
and since that time it has been and will be with them a war of
extinction against the Texians.

An old Comanche, with a daughter, had separated himself from their
tribe. He was a chief, but he had been unfortunate; and being sick, he
retired to San Antonio to try the skill of the treat Pale-face medecin.
His daughter was a noble and handsome girl of eighteen, and she had not
been long in the place before she attracted the attention of a certain
doctor, a young man from Kentucky, who had been tried for murder in the
States. He was the greatest scoundrel in the world, but being a
desperate character, he was feared, and, of course, courted by his
fellow Texians.

Perceiving that he could not succeed in his views so long as the girl
was with her father, he contrived to throw the old man into jail, and,
inducing her to come to his house to see what could be done to release
him, he abused her most shamefully, using blows and violence, to
accomplish his purpose, to such a degree, that he left her for dead.
Towards the evening, she regained some strength, and found a shelter in
the dwelling of some humane Mexican.

The old Indian was soon liberated: he found his daughter, but it was on
her death-bed, and then he learned the circum