| OCR Text |
Show 326 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE INDIANS. Next morning we went out to see what evidence could be found. We first visited the Indians and heard their story. They said that the whites who were coming into the country were careless about their stock and it often strayed off a long ways. Some of the owners had offered to pay them for hunting it up. When they brought the stock some paid them, while others who were bad men would abuse them and tell them they had driven the stock away on purpose to receive a reward for finding it. They said Captain Jones always told them to be honest with everybody and had forbidden any Indians to come to his place unless they would do right. The Indians were very earnest in their talk, saying they had been friends to the people that had come in, and that it was bad to be accused so unjustly, and said they would not hunt any more stock. The captain told them that would be wrong as the people were poor and did not know the range. One Indian, Valensuela, spoke up and said: " Well, I will teach these people better. I will go and get their stock and give it to them, and I won't take a cent if they offer it to me." The spirit and manner of the Indians convinced the captain that they had been wrongfully accused. From the Indian camp we went to where the greater portion of my accusers were at work on a ditch. The captain called the attention of the crowd and made known his business by saying, " Mr. Jones has been accused of causing the Indians to run off your stock. Do any of you know anything about the charge ? " No one answered against me. Some said they did not think I had done anything of the kind. We were now some three miles from my ranch. The captain |
