Page:The Indian History of the Modoc War.djvu/35

 Wright gave the Indians a whole beef and flour and other foodstuffs. The Indians were very happy. That evening they pulled up sage-brush and built wind-breaks and got tules and built shelters. The Indians and whites were having a jolly good time that night, until near the midnight hour. After midnight, everything was quiet. The whole camp was in slumber. The Indians little thought that that evening would be the last they would enjoy on this earth; their talk was, they were all glad that they had found a friend. Capt. Jack's father said he was tired dodging the whites. He seen a great future for his son and their people.

Long before daylight, if any of the Indians had been on guard they could have seen Ben Wright's men all up and looking after their arms. They could have seen men making their way down the river towards the Natural Bridge, carefully picking their way through the tall sage-brush. A few minutes after these men had left their tents, about forty in number, the Indians could have seen these same men on the north bank of Lost River, opposite their own camp, fingering the triggers of their muskets, assured by their Captain Wright, that they would have a fine morning's sport.

On the south bank of Lost River, where the two camps were, the rest of Wright's men were laying low behind their own tents, anxiously awaiting the brightness of morning to come. The sky begins to fade in the east, it gets quite light. Ben Wright looks along his gun barrel; he turns slowly, around to his men and says, "It is not light enough; we will wait till it is good and light. I want to get every mother's son of them Injuns. Boys, don't spare the squaws; get them all!"

The birds began to sing. Capt. Jack's father raises his head; he tells his squaw it is day. "Let's get up," he says; "it is raining. I wonder why the white people are not up?" The Indians begin to show signs of life. Capt. Jack's father was the first one up. He looked to his bow and quiver. It is still unstrung. All the rest of the Indians had unstrung their bows, because it was raining when they retired. Capt. Jack's father went towards his white friends' camp, looking