Page:The Indian History of the Modoc War.djvu/283

Rh and corroborated their stories and all that I saw gave them a good character.

In the fall of 1871, the first time for twenty years, on my return from a business trip to Surprise Valley, in company with Mr. H. C. Tichnor, I came through the country of the Modocs. We had to sleep out one night, which we did at the foot of Tule Lake. In the morning early we started for Miller's (since killed by Indians), ten miles distant, to get some breakfast. We found Miller out at the time, but his house all open and no way to close it up. Miller soon came in, and set about boiling us some coffee. I found he had a good supply of flour, bacon, beef, etc., on hand and in that open cabin, and asked him if the Indians did not steal from him. He replied that he had been there for several years, and had always left his cabin open in that way day and night, and had never lost anything by the Indians that he knew. That the Indians provided for themselves, by fishing and hunting, and the only fear he had was that the reservation people would try to remove them, and would create war, in which settlers would be sacrificed; for, said he, they are determined to die, rather than be taken back to the reservation; and you know how inaccessible portions of the country are, and if an outbreak should occur it would be a severe struggle, in which many valuable lives and innocent people would be lost. How well he prophesied! And he and Brotherton, both good men, and as good friends to the Indians as any, fell victims to this ill-advised project. Passing to the Indian village we found only a portion of the tribe there; the balance of them went with Captain Jack, having come to Yreka, to purchase their winter supplies. The few that were there expressed a fear that the soldiers were coming after them, and wished to know if I knew anything about it. I did not, but tried to quiet their fears, by telling them that the big chief would send a man to tell them when he wanted them to go. Coming into Ball's ranch the like character was given to the Indians as by Miller, and about dusk Captain Jack and company came and camped close by. On their return from Yreka, whilst talking with Jack, he expressed fears of trouble because a white man had