Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/703

652 weave into their habits of life. Every act of the missionaries was criticised. When Whitman, who was endeavoring to break up the custom of going to war, exhibited his disapprobation by refusing to shake hands with an offender, the accidental death of that young warrior was imputed to him, and though they pretended to be convinced to the contrary, their hearts were secretly bitter toward Whitman, whose 'evil eye' they were willing to believe had worked them harm.

It was unfortunate that at this juncture so many strangers had been allowed to gather at the mission, confirming the suspicion of the Cayuses that the Americans intended to settle in their country without first treating for their lands: unfortunate because it gave weight to a rumor circulated among them by one Joe Lewis, a half-breed, who was employed about the mission, that Doctor and Mrs Whitman were conspiring to exterminate them by poison, in order to come into possession of their lands for themselves and their countrymen —a rumor which was strengthened by the