Silence, Oposh-ton-ehoc, let me hear thee no more,
for I am an old man; and now that I have one foot in the happy grounds
of immortality, it pains me to think that I leave my people so near a
nation of liars. An errand of peace! Does the snake offer peace to the
squirrel when he kills him with the poison of his dreaded glance? does
an Indian say to the beaver, he comes to offer peace when he sets his
traps for him? No! a pale-faced Oposh-ton-ehoc? or a '_Kish emok
comho-anac_' (the beast that gets drunk and lies, the Texan), can alone
thus he to nature--but not a red-skin, nor even a girlish Wachinangoe,
nor a proud '_Shakanah_' (Englishman), nor a '_Mahamate kosh ehoj_'
(open-heart, open-handed Frenchman).
"Be silent, then, man with the tongue of a snake, the heart of a deer,
and the ill-will of a scorpion; be silent, for I and mine despise thee
and thine. Yet, fear not; thou mayest depart in peace, for a Comanche is
too noble not to respect a white flag, even when carried by a wolf or a
fox. Till sunset eat, but alone; smoke, but not in our calumets; repose
in two or three lodges, for we can burn them after pollution; and then
depart, and say to thy people, that the Comanche, having but one tongue
and one nature, can neither speak with nor understand an Oposh-ton-ehoc.
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