Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/583

 were informed. On arriving at the rendezvous, they found, instead of four or five Modocs, twenty-nine, in war-paint and feathers.

The conference was an awkward one, Black Jim doing most of the talking for the Modocs. Jack was sullen, but finally gave as a reason for not returning to the reservation that he was afraid of the Klamath 'medicine.' He also complained that the Klamaths exasperated him by assuming the ownership of everything on the reserve, drew an effective picture of the miseries of such a state of dependence, and denied that his people had ever done anything to disturb the settlers. When reminded that he had driven away several families, and that those who remained were assessed, he demanded to know who had informed against him, but was not told. All through the interview Jack had the advantage. There were thirty armed Modocs against half a dozen white men, who, warned by Jack's sullen demeanor, dared not utter a word that might be as fire to powder. He so far unbent during the conversation as to promise not to annoy the settlers, and not to resist the military, and was given permission to remain where he was until the superintendent could come to see them; and upon this understanding John Meacham wrote to that functionary that no danger was to be apprehended from Jack's band. Yet the commissioners had hardly set out on their return to Yainax when it was warmly debated in the Modoc camp whether or not to commence hostilities at once by murdering Jesse Applegate and the other settlers about Clear and Tule lakes.