Never have I been placed in so critical a position,
never have I been so crucified between two plans of
life. But I had said when I climbed the mountain
and looked back on the green and yellow crops
below, that I would not lead my allies there, come
what might, and I doggedly kept my promise
through all the stormy council of that long and
unhappy night.
Time has shown that I was wrong ; I should have taken that city and held on, and kept up an aggres sive warfare till the Government came to terms, and recognized the rights of this people.
I rode south with my warriors, and we gathered in diminished force on a plateau not far from Pit River, and prepared to make another fight.
If there is a race of men that has the gift of prophecy or prescience I think it is the Indian. It may be a keen instinct sharpened by meditation that makes them foretell many things with such precision; but I have seen some things that looked much like the fulfilment of prophecies. They believe in the gift of prophecy thoroughly and are never without their seers. Besides the warriors are constantly foretelling their own fate. A distinguished warrior rarely goes into battle without telling what he will do, whom he will encounter, who will be killed, amd how the battle will be determined. They often fore tell their own deaths with a singular accuracy. They believe in signs of all kinds : signs in the heavens, signs in the woods, on the waters, anywhere; and a
