Page:On the border with Crook - Bourke - 1892.djvu/474

 *ent condition of affairs. I want you to tell the truth without fear, and to tell it in as few words as possible, so that everybody can read it without trouble."

were all content; everything was peace. The officers you had here were all taken away, and new ones came in—a different kind. The good ones must all have been taken away and the bad ones sent in their places. We couldn't make out what they wanted; one day they seemed to want one thing, the next day something else. Perhaps we were to blame, perhaps they were; but, anyhow, we hadn't any confidence in them. We were planting our own corn and melons and making our own living. The agent at the San Carlos never gave us any rations, but we didn't mind that, as we were taking care of ourselves. One day the agent at the San Carlos sent up and said that we must give up our own country and our corn-patches and go down there to live, and he sent Indian soldiers to seize our women and children and drive us all down to that hot land. 'Uclenni' and I were doing all we could to help the whites, when we were both put in the guard-house. All that I have ever done has been honest; I have always been true and obeyed orders. I made campaigns against Apache-Yumas, Apache-Tontos, Pinalenos, and all kinds of people, and even went against my own people. When the Indians broke out at the San Carlos, when Major Randall was here, I helped him to go fight them; I have been in all the campaigns. When Major Randall was here we were all happy; when he promised a thing he did it; when he said a word he meant it; but all that he did was for our own good and we believed in him and we think of him yet. Where has he gone? Why don't he come back? Others have come to see us since he left, but they talk to us in one way and act in another, and we can't believe what they say. They say: 'That man is bad, and that man is bad.' I think that the trouble is, they themselves are bad. Oh, where is my friend Randall—the captain with the big mustache which he always pulled? Why don't he come back? He was my brother, and I think of him all the time."
 * "When you left, there were no bad Indians out. We

Old "Pedro" talked in much the same vein: "When you (General Crook) were here, whenever you said a thing we knew that it was true, and we kept it in our minds. When Colonel Green was here, our women and children were happy and our