Page:The Indian History of the Modoc War.djvu/44

 see our agent. He threatened to kill me. He sent me out of his house. He will not protect us. He must be afraid of these Klamath people. I do not want my men to be slaves for these Indians, and they shall not be. My people are just as good as these Indians here. I am not afraid of them, but I shall not fight them. I am going back to my own country. If I stay here I will be killed. I know it, for I cannot stand for what the Klamath Indians do and say. I just as well die in my own country." Next day in the forenoon, Capt. Jack and his entire band of Indians was back on the banks of Lost River on their old camping grounds. Some of the Modocs visited their friends, the settlers, and told the settlers that they could not get along with the agent and Klamaths. One man by the name of Whitney, said he was glad to see them back. "There is plenty of room for all of us here. I know we can get along fine."

Jack's people all went in different directions in the month of June, 1870, to gather roots. The men all happy, some of them went to work for the settlers. They did not have any trouble with any of their white neighbors. Abe Ball, Skukum Horse's friend, had left while the Modocs were on the reservation. Jack's people went to Yreka quite often. The white people did not harm any of Jack's people; neither did the Indians bother the whites. The Modocs led and lived happy lives until September, 1872. Some of the white men told Scar-Face Charley that the soldiers would be after them soon.

John Fairchild rode one day into Capt. Jack's camp on Lost River. That was in October, 1872. The people gathered around Fairchild, all glad to see him. Fairchild was one of the best friends the Modocs had. Whenever he told them anything, they believed him. Fairchild told them that day that he was pretty sure the troops would be after them next month. He told them not to offer battle, but to go with the soldiers to the Klamath agency. He told them the soldiers were like them black birds, pointing to a flock of black birds. Scar-Face Charley told Fairchild that if the soldiers did not open fire on them they would not fight. Fairchild bid the Indians farewell and left for his ranch in Hot Creek, California.