“Tobey, give me my horse; we must go now.”
“Meacham, you no go; you get kill. You no get your horse. The Modocs mad now; they kill all you men.” She winds the rope around her waist, and throws herself upon the ground, and, in the wildest excitement, shrieks in broken sobs, “Meacham, you no go; you no go! You get kill! you get kill!”
Can the man resist this appeal to save his friends and himself? His lips quiver and his face is white; he is struggling with his pride. His color changes. Thank God, he is going to make another effort to prevent the doom that threatens! He calls to Canby and Thomas. They await his approach. Laying a hand on the shoulder of each, he says, “Gentlemen, my cool, deliberate opinion is that, if we go to the council tent to-day, we will be carried home to-night on the stretchers; all cut to pieces. I tell you, I dare not ignore Tobey’s warning. I believe her, and I am not willing to go.”
The general answers first: “Mr. Meacham, you are unduly cautious. There are but five Indians at the council tent, and they dare not attack us.”
“General, the Modocs dare do anything. I know them better than you do, and I know they are desperate. Braver men and worse men never lived
on this continent than we are to meet at that tent yonder.”
The general replies, “I have left orders for a watch to be kept, and, if they attack us, the army will move at once against them. We have agreed to meet them, and we must do it.”
Dr. Thomas remarks, “I have agreed to meet them, and I never break my word. I am in the hands of God. If He requires my life, I am ready for the sacrifice.”
Meacham is still unwilling to go, and says, “If we must go, let us be well armed.”
“Brother Meacham, the agreement is to go unarmed, and we must do as we have agreed.”