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CHAPTER XXV.

A NEW DEPARTURE.

HAT I had made a grave mistake I now saw. Indians are clannish. They may fight among each other like the other people of the earth ; but let them be attacked by the common enemy, and they make common cause. I had fought against their brothers, and I was not to be at once forgiven for that. On the other hand, I had sympathized with the Indians. That also was a mortal crime, an unpardonable offence, in the eyes of the whites.

I had attempted to sit on two seats at once, and had slid between the two. It takes a big man to sit on two chairs at once. Any man who has the capacity to do such a thing, has also the good sense not to attempt it.

The Indians came slowly back into the country ; but some never came. They had gone to the Pit River war. The rank grass is growing above their ashes on the hills that look upon that winding, shining river.