“Brothers, we do not wish to harm you—if you turn about and go back, you will be well, both you and your horses—you cannot go forward. (‘How, how!’)
“We know that if you go to the pipe stone, the Great Spirit looks upon you—the white people do not think of that. (‘How, how!’)
“I have no more to say.”
These, and a dozen other speeches to the same effect, having been pronounced, I replied in the following manner:
“My friends, you have entirely mistaken us; we are no officers, nor are we sent by any one—the white men do not want the red pipe—it is not worth their carrying home so far, if you were to give it all to them. Another thing, they don’t use pipes—they don’t know how to smoke them.
‘How, how!’
“My friends, I think as you do, that the Great Spirit has given that place to the red men for their pipes.
‘How, how, how!’
“I give you great credit for the course you are taking to preserve and protect it; and I will do as much as any man to keep white men from taking it away from you.
‘How, how!’