I was present one day when a military party came from Fort Bent, on the head of the Arkansa, to offer presents and make proposals of peace to the Comanche council.  The commander made a long speech, after which he offered I don’t know how many hundred gallons of whisky.  One of the ancient chiefs had not patience to hear any more, and he rose full of indignation.  His name was Auku-wonze-zee, that is to say, “he who is superlatively old.”

“Silence,” he said; “speak no more, double-tongued Oposh-ton-ehoc (Yankee).  Why comest thou, false-hearted, to pour thy deceitful words into the ears of my young men?  You tell us you come for peace, and you offered to us poison.  Silence, Oposh-ton-ehoc, let me hear thee no more, for I am an old man; and now that I have one foot in the happy grounds of immortality, it pains me to think that I leave my people so near a nation of liars.  An errand of peace!  Does the snake offer peace to the squirrel when he kills him with the poison of his dreaded glance? does an Indian say to the beaver, he comes to offer peace when he sets his traps for him?  No! a pale-faced Oposh-ton-ehoc? or a ’Kish emok comho-anac’ (the beast that gets drunk and lies, the Texan), can alone thus he to nature—­but not a red-skin, nor even a girlish Wachinangoe, nor a proud ‘Shakanah’ (Englishman), nor a ‘Mahamate kosh ehoj’ (open-heart, open-handed Frenchman).

“Be silent, then, man with the tongue of a snake, the heart of a deer, and the ill-will of a scorpion; be silent, for I and mine despise thee and thine.  Yet, fear not; thou mayest depart in peace, for a Comanche is too noble not to respect a white flag, even when carried by a wolf or a fox.  Till sunset eat, but alone; smoke, but not in our calumets; repose in two or three lodges, for we can burn them after pollution; and then depart, and say to thy people, that the Comanche, having but one tongue and one nature, can neither speak with nor understand an Oposh-ton-ehoc.

“Take back thy presents; my young men will have none of them, for they can accept nothing except from a friend; and if thou look’st at their feet, thou shalt see their mocassins, their leggings, even their bridles, are braided with the hair of thy people, perhaps of thy brothers.  Take thy ‘Shoba-wapo’ (fire-water), and give it to drink to thy warriors, that we may see them raving and tumbling like swine.  Silence, and away with thee.  Our squaws will follow ye on your trail for a mile, to burn even the grass ye have trampled upon near our village.  Away with you all, now and for ever!  I have said!!!”

The American force was numerous and well armed, and a moment, a single moment, deeply wounded by these bitter taunts, they looked as if they would fight and die to resent the insult; but it was only a transient feeling; for they had their orders, and they went away, scorned and humiliated.  Perhaps, too, an inward voice whispered to them that they deserved their shame and humiliation; perhaps the contrast of their conduct with that of the savages awakened in them some better feeling, which had a long time remained dormant, and they were now disgusted with themselves and their odious policy.