Page:The Early Indian Wars of Oregon.djvu/135

 op was also

received requesting his presence, but he being unable to attend, Mr. Brouillet went in his place, to give an account of what had passed at the council held at his mission; this being, as he informs us, the first time any of the fathers had ventured away from Tauitowe s camp since his return from Waiilatpu after the burial of the victims. The Indians could not be brought together before tl^ie twenty-third, by which time the bishop also was present.

Of how Mr. Ogden came to take the important step he did, the explanation will be given in the chapter which follows. That his doing so was as wise as it was brave, every historian must acknowledge. But to close this act in the drama enacted in the Walla Walla valley, we con tinue the narrative of what followed Ogden s arrival.

From the moment of his arrival on the evening of the nineteenth until the morning of the twenty-third, no time was lost, but every particle of information was gathered up which would enable him to deal with the Cayuses, and also the Nez Percés. The Cayuse chiefs present were Tauitowe and Tiloukaikt, with about a dozen young men. Mr. Ogden addressed them fearlessly and truthfully, yet with that tact in keeping the advantage which is necessary in dealing with undeveloped minds. Speaking of the Hudson's bay people, "We have been among you for thirty years," said Ogden, "without the shedding of blood; we are traders, and of a different nation from the Ameri cans; but recollect, we supply you with ammunition, not to kill Americans, who are of the same color, speak the same language, and worship the same God as ourselves, and whose cruel fate causes our hearts to bleed. Why do we make you chiefs, if you cannot control your young inen? Besides this wholesale butchery, you have robbed the Americans passing through your country, and have insulted their women. If you allow your young men to govern you, I say you are not men or chiefs, but hermaph rodites who do not deserve the name. Your hot-headed young men plume themselves on their bravery; but let