do not believe you; those characters all seem alike; nobody can distinguish any difference among many of them; you are trying to fool me, and make me believe you are a great medicine man."
"Indian," I answered, "I will give you proof. You see yonder man? He is the sutler. I will give you a note to him, authorizing you to receive a piece of tobacco; he is at least four hundred yards away, and cannot know of this conversation. If he gives you the tobacco on the reception of my note, you must believe."
"Very good; my white-eyed brother speaks well. I will make the trial, and will see if he says truth."
The note was written and delivered to my copper-colored friend, who started off on a brisk trot until he reached the sutler, to whom he delivered his order. Having read it, the sutler handed him a piece of tobacco, which seemed greatly to excite his astonishment. My friend looked at the weed, then scratched his head and looked again, in undisguised wonderment, advancing toward my tent steadily. "When within twenty yards, I noticed his eyes gleam with suppressed satisfaction, and hastily coming up, he said:
"Look here, white man, you try to make a fool of poor Apache. You and the other man made this thing up beforehand, to force me into the belief that you are a great medicine. Now, if you want me to believe you, just write another letter for another piece of tobacco, and if he gives it to me, then I will believe."
It is needless to add that the cunning ruse of the Apache to secure two pieces of tobacco, did not succeed.
Although my tent was so far removed from, the rest of the Commission as to render me isolated from the protection of my comrades, I never experienced any alarm, as I possessed two very large and fine dogs, and was ac-
