I cannot forbear mentioning an accident of the evening.
Gen. Canby’s tent was partly up when I passed near him. He said, “Well, Mr. Meacham, where is your tent?”—“It has not come,” I replied.
The general ordered the men to pull up the pins and move his tent to the site we had selected for ours. It was only by the most earnest entreaty on our part that he countermanded the order, and then only on our promise to share his tent with him, if ours was not put up in time for us to occupy for the night.
On the day following our arrival a meeting was had with the Modocs. On our part, Gen. Canby, Gen. Gilliam, Dr. Thomas, Mr. Dyer and myself, Frank Riddle and Tobey as interpreters. Some of our party were armed; others were not. Riddle and his wife Tobey were suspicious of treachery, and said, as we went, “Be sure to mix up with the Modocs; don’t let them get you in a bunch.”
“Boston,” who had come to our camp to arrange for the meeting, led the way. We saw arising, apparently out of the rocks, a smoke. When we arrived we found Captain Jack, and the principal men of his band, and about half-a-dozen women standing by a fire built in a low, rocky basin.
Dr. Thomas was the first to descend. He did not seem to observe, indeed he did not observe, that we were going entirely out of sight of the field-glasses at our camp.
The place suggested treachery, especially after Riddle’s warning. I scanned the rocks around the rim of the basin, but did not see ambushed men; nevertheless, I had some misgiving; but it was too late to retreat
then, and to have refused to join the council would have invited an attack. The greetings were cordial; nothing that indicated danger except the place, and the fact that there were three times as many Indians as “Boston” had said would be there. One reassuring circumstance was the presence of their women. But this may have been only a blind. After smoking the pipe of peace the talk opened, each one of our party making short speeches in favor of peace, and showing good intentions. The chief replied in a short preliminary talk; Schonchin also. We stated our object, and explained why the soldiers were brought so closely,—that we wanted to feel safe.
Thus passed nearly an hour, when an incident occurred that caused some of our party to change position very quietly.
Hooker Jim said to Mr. Riddle, “Stand aside,—get out of the way!” in Modoc. Some of us understood what it meant. Tobey moved close to our party and reprimanded Hooker. Captain Jack said to him, “Stop that.”