Our best hunting-ground shall be theirs; they will fish the salmon of our rivers; they will be Arrapahoes Shoshones; we will become Shoshones Arrapahoes.  I have already sent to the settlement of the Watchinangoes my ancient Pale-face friend of the stout heart and keen eye; shortly we will see at the Post a vessel with arms, ammunition, and presents for the nation.  I will go myself with a party of warriors to the prairies of the Apaches, and among the Comanches.

“Yet I hear within me a stout voice, which I must obey.  My grandfather, the old chief, has said he should be no more a chief.  It was wrong, very wrong; the Manitou is angry.  Is the buffalo less a buffalo when he grows old, or the eagle less an eagle when a hundred winters have whitened his wings?  No! their nature cannot change, not more than that of a chief and that chief, a chief of the Shoshones!

“Owato Wanisha will remain what he is; he is too young to be the great chief of the whole of a great nation.  His wish is good, but his wisdom is of yesterday; he cannot rule.  To rule belongs to those who have deserved doing so, by long experience.  No!  Owato Wanisha will lead his warriors to the war-path, or upon the trail of the buffalo; he will go and talk to the grandchildren of the Shoshones; more he cannot do!

“Let now the squaws prepare the farewell meal, and make ready the green paint; to-morrow I shall depart, with fifty of my young men.  I have spoken.”

The council being broken up, I had to pass through the ceremony of smoking the pipe and shaking hands with those who could call themselves warriors.  On the following morning, fifty magnificent horses, richly caparisoned, were led to the lawn before the council lodge.  Fifty warriors soon appeared, in their gaudiest dresses, all armed with the lance, bow, and lasso, and rifle suspended across the shoulder.  Then there was a procession of all the tribe, divided into two bands, the first headed by the chiefs and holy men; the other, by the young virgins.  Then the dances commenced; the elders sang their exploits of former days, as an example to their children; the voting men exercised themselves at the war-post; and the matrons, wives, mothers, or sisters of the travellers painted their faces with green and red, as a token of the nature of their mission.  When this task was performed, the whole of the procession again formed their ranks, and joined in a chorus, asking the Manitou for success, and bidding us farewell.  I gave the signal; all my men sprang up in their saddles, and the gallant little band, after having rode twice round the council lodge, galloped away into the prairie.

Two days after us, another party was to start for the country of the Arrapahoes, with the view of effecting a reconciliation between our two tribes.

CHAPTER XVI.

At this time, the generally bright prospects of California were clouding over.  Great changes had taken place in the Mexican government, new individuals had sprung into power, and their followers were recompensed with dignities and offices.  But, as these offices had been already filled by others, it was necessary to remove the latter, and, consequently, the government had made itself more enemies.