"Farewell, young chief, with a pale face and an Indian heart; the earth
be light to thee and thine. May the white Manitou clear for thee the
mountain path, and may you never fail to remember _Opishka Toaki_ (the
White Raven), who is thy Comanche friend, and who would fain share with
thee his home, his wealth, and his wide prairies. I have said: young
brother, farewell."
The tears stood in our eyes as gallantly the band wheeled round. We
watched them till they had all disappeared in the horizon. And these
noble fellows were Indians; had they been Texans, they would have
murdered us to obtain our horses and rifles.
Two days after, we crossed the Rio Grande, and entered the dreary path
of the mountains In the hostile and Inhospitable country of the Navahoes
and the Crows[16].
[Footnote 16: The Crows are gallant horsemen; but although they have
assumed the manners and customs of the Shoshones, they are of the
Dahcotah breed. There is a great difference between the Shoshone tribes
and the Crows. The latter want that spirit of chivalry so remarkable
among the Comanches, the Arrapahoes, and the Shoshones--that nobility of
feeling which scorns to take an enemy at a disadvantage, I should say
that the Shoshone tribes are the lions and the Crows the tigers of these
deserts.
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