im escape and enjoy life," said Joseph. "I
will not take his life for the one he took. I do not want anything in
payment for what he did. I pronounce the sentence that he shall live."

All that the Nez Perces asked, was that the white men get out.

Among the Indians of this Columbia River region there had sprung up a
prophet, as in the days of Tecumseh. His name was Smo-hal-la. He
preached the doctrine that the land belonged to the Indians, and that
the red man was the real child of the Great Spirit. A day was nearing,
when the Great Spirit would repeople the earth with Indians, and the
white race would be driven out. In the meantime the red men must live
in their own way, and have nothing to do with the white men. They must
not dig into the body of their "mother," the earth.

The followers of Smohalla were called Dreamers. Chief Joseph was a
member of the Dreamers: so were many of his band.

As the Chief Joseph people would not come in upon the Lapwai
reservation, and the missionaries and Indian agent and soldiers could
not persuade them, General Oliver O. Howard, who commanded the Military
Department of the Columbia, met in council with them, at Fort Lapwai,
in April and May, 1876.

General Howard was a brave soldier who had lost his right arm in the
battle of Fair Oaks, during the Civil War. He was a kind, just man,
one whom the Apaches and other tribes greatly trusted; but he could do
little with the stubborn Pierced Noses.

They usually dressed like white people. When they came to the council
they were painted, and wore buckskins and blankets, according to the
custom of the Dreamers.

Chief Joseph finally appeared. His younger brother, Ollicut, whom he
dearly loved, was here. So were Hush-hush-cute, chief of the Palouse
tribe who mingled with the Pierced Noses in friendship; and Sub-Chiefs
Looking Glass and White Bird; and old Too-hul-hul-so-te, a Too-at, or
Drummer Dreamer chief.

In the principal councils Too-hul-hul-so-te was the most out-spoken,
for the Pierced Noses. Chief Joseph and Ollicut his brother were more
quiet. But General Howard and Toohulhulsote had several tilts.

The white chiefs stated that the Nez Perces were to go upon the Lapwai
reservation; then they would be given the privilege of hunting and
fishing in the Winding Waters country.

"The earth is our mother. When the earth was made, there were no marks
or lines placed upon it," grunted the surly, broad-shouldered
T