“Tell me what you wish of me,” said Bancroft.
“It is not a wish, but a command,” answered Intschu-Tschuna proudly.
“We will take no command,” responded the head engineer with equal pride.
A look of anger passed over the chief’s face, but he controlled himself, and said mildly: “My white brother will answer me one question truthfully. Have you a house?”
“Yes.”
“With a garden?”
“Yes.”
“If a neighbor would cut a path through that garden would my brother submit to it?”
“No.”
“The lands beyond the Rocky Mountains and east of the Mississippi belong to the pale-faces. What would they say if the Indians came to build a railroad there?”