Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/37

 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN INDIAN AGENT. 29 miles in the night. I expected the witnesses would arrive at the fort the next evening, but they with several others and the ever dutiful brother were back before sunrise the next morning, the latter having ridden eighty miles in less than twelve hours. The case was called about 10 o'clock, and the examination, conducted entirely by the Colonel, was concluded in less than half an hour. The innocence of the chief was clear beyond a doubt, and to make the decision complimentary, the Colonel formally handed him over to me. As he was much past the prime of life I suggested that he better stay until morning and ride back with me in the carriage, but he seemed anxious to put as much ground between himself and the prison as possible, and before 9 o'clock that night they were all back at the agency again, the brother having ridden 120 miles in less than twenty-four hours. In the course of my nine months' stay there I had an ex- cellent opportunity to study the man Howlish Wampo, and I am satisfied that he was considerably more than an ordinary specimen of his race. After his (release he visited me often and spent much time at my house, conversing with me through the interpreter or, in the absence of the latter, he strove with the few words of English, Chinook and Walla Walla we both understood to communicate his most important thought. He was of medium stature, thick set, muscular, and when young, no doubt very strong and enduring. He had an intellectual head and face, a penetrating but kindly eye, and a voice both deep and musical. Mr. Flippin, who spoke the Walla Walla language fluently, said that Howlish Wampo was the only In- dian orator he ever knew. A United States military officer had given him a fine, blue broadcloth cloak, which he wore on all important occasions, and with all the dignity and grace of a Roman senator. He did not seem to be conscious of jt either. The speech he made to the troops that came to protect Agent Barnhart was pronounced by Mr. Flippin the most impressive one to which he ever listened. The circumstances were promotive of deep feeling and as the murdered man was