Title |
Jacob Hamblin, a narrative of his personal experience, as a frontiersman, missionary to the Indians and explorer, [microform] disclosing interpositions of Providence, severe privations, perilous situations and remarkable escapes. Fifth book of the faith-p - Page 116 |
OCR Text |
Show 114 THE COUNCIL BEGINS. CHAPTER XX. INDIANS ASSEMBLE THE COUNCIL LODGE ACCUSED OF LYING TO THE INDIANS INFORMED THAT I MUST DIE PRIVILEGE GRANTED THE SMITH BROTHERS OF ESCAP-ING THEY REFUSE TO DESERT ME TO SAVE THEIR LIVES VIOLENT SPEECHES YOUNG INDIANS EAGER FOR REVENGE INTERPRETERS AFRAID TO SPEAK INDIANS PROPOSE A COMPROMISE 350 HEAD OF CATTLE AND HORSES DEMANDED I REFUSE TO PAY FOR A CRIME THE " MORMONS" NEVER COMMITTED THEY THREATEN TO BURN ME MY COOLNESS CREATES A FAVORABLE IMPRESSION AN AGREEMENT WE REGAIN OUR LIBEETY. rPHE night passed, and a part of the forenoon of the follow- JL ing day, when the Navajoes who had been sent for began to gather in. About noon, they informed me they were ready for talk. A lodge had been emptied of its contents for a council room. It was about twenty feet long by twelve feet wide. It was con-structed of logs, with one end set in the ground, and the top ends leaning to the centre of the lodge, and fitted together. The logs were covered with about six inches of dirt. A fire occupied the centre of the lodge, the smoke escaping through a hole in the roof. There was but one entrance, and that was in the end. Into this lodge were crowded some twenty- four Navajoes, four of whom were councilors of the nation. A few Indians were gathered about the entrance. The two Smith's and I were at the farther end from the entrance, with apparently not one chance in a hundred of reaching the outside, should it be neceessary to make an effort to save our lives. The council opened by the Navajoe spokesman asserting that what I had said about the murder of their relatives was |