for him? No! a pale-faced `Oposh-ton-ehoe', or a `_Kish emok
comho-anac_' (the beast that gets drunk and lies, the Texian), can alone
thus lie to nature--but not a red-skin, nor even a girlish Wachinangoe,
nor a proud `_Skakanah_' (Englishman), nor a `_Mahamate kosh ehoj_'
(open-heart, open-handed Frenchman).

"Be silent then, man with the tongue of a snake, the heart of a deer,
and the ill-will of a scorpion; be silent, for I and mine despise thee
and thine. Yet fear not, thou mayest depart in peace, for a Comanche is
too noble not to respect a white flag, even when carried by a wolf or a
fox. Till sun-set eat, but alone; smoke, but not in our calumets;
repose in two or three lodges, for we can burn them after pollution, and
then depart, and say to thy people, that the Comanche, having but one
tongue and one nature, can neither speak with nor understand an
Oposh-ton-ehoe.

"Take back thy presents; my young men will have none of them, for they
can accept nothing except from a friend--and if thou look'st at their
feet, thou shalt see their mocassins, their leggings, even their bridles
are braided with the hair of thy people, perhaps of thy brothers. Take
thy `Shoba-wapo' (fire-water), and give it to drink to thy warriors,
that we may see them raving and tumbling like swine. Silence, and away
with thee; our squaws will follow ye on your trail for a mile, to burn
even the grass ye have trampled upon near our village. Away with you
all, now and for ever! I have said!!!"

The American force was numerous and well armed, and a moment, a single
moment, deeply wounded by these bitter taunts, they looked as if they
would fight and die to resent the insult; but it was only a transient
feeling, for they had their orders and they went away, scorned and
humiliated. Perhaps, too, an inward voice whispered to them that they
deserved their shame and humiliation; perhaps the contrast of their
conduct with that of the savages awakened in them some better feeling,
which had a long time remained dormant, and they were now disgusted with
themselves and their odious policy.

As it was, they departed in silence, and the last of their line had
vanished under the horizon before the Indians could smother the
indignation and resentment which the strangers had excited within their
hearts. Days, however, passed away, and with them the recollection of
the event. Afterwards, I chanced to meet, in the Arkansas, with the
Colonel who comma