Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 12.djvu/380

 372 ARCHIBALD McKiNLAY powder in the adjoining room I sprung to the door, took hold of a flint & steel and defied them to touch Todd. Before I could think of what I was about there was not an Indian in the house, except the old chief and his son; the former after sitting moodily for a few minutes addressed me thus, "Don't you think you are very smart to frighten my young men so? You can't frighten me. I have heard that you white people are in the habit of taking guns and challenging one another; let's you & I do the same." My reply was : ''there are only six whites of us here and there are as many hundreds of you. Should you kill me there is no one to take my place as chief of the whites. Should I kill you there are plenty in your tribe as good if not better men than yourself." At this he went off in 'high dudgeon ; sent messengers to the Cayuses & Nez Perces that his son was killed by the whites, & for two days Indians gathered round the Fort but none came inside the gate; something unusual. On the evening of the second day the Five Crows, a Cayuse Chief, an uncle of the young man who got the thrashing, a very old friend of the whites & a man who had a very great regard for me, came, from a distance and entered the Fort without ever knowing anything of what occurred. I must here digress a little and mention that a few days previously Mr. Ogden had passed down taking my wife to Vancouver, so when the Five Crows came in I enquired whether he had heard the news, referring to my trouble with the Indians ; his answer was that he had. "I have heard," he said, "that your father-in-law (Mr. Ogden) has lost two men by the upseting of the boat at the Dalles." I told him that I had also heard of that accident but that I did not mean that, but my trouble with his brother-in-law, the Walla Walla chief. He wished to know the particulars. I told him that he would find out the trouble from the Indians as Indians considered the white men liars. On this he said: "did you ever know me to doubt your word or to go among Indians listening to their idle tattle ?" I answered : "now as you have spoken, I will tell you," and of course repeated what had happened. He ex-