when in August, Jack's band began to kill their cattle, a sure indication of a determination to bring on hostilities. He had at this time about 200 followers, Sconchin having succeeded in withdrawing from his influence nearly seventy, who had been living at Camp Yainax, and which addition to his following made him the equal with Jack in point of numbers. Just before depredations were begun, Agent Knapp held a council with Jack, whom he met in Yreka, when the latter informed him that he would not go upon the reservation, and refused even to come to Camp Yainax to see the superintendent who was expected there. Having thus thrown down the gauntlet, it was but one step more to kill the stock of the settlers.
Now commenced that preliminary warfare the frontiersmen only too well understood. Roaming about the country in small parties, selecting a time when the men belono;ino; to a farm were absent from their houses to dash up to the doors on horseback, dismount and demand a cooked meal of the frightened women, during the preparation of which they freely occupied chairs or beds, making insulting gestures and remarks—these were the indications of what was surely to follow. To these outrages the settlers singly dared offer no resistance; nor could they collectively have done more than to hasten the outbreak. It was the duty of the superintendent to call for the arrest of these savages, and of the commander of Fort Klamath to perform it; but for reasons already alluded to, no arrests were made.
During the summer of 1871 the insolence of Jack's band increased alarmingly. They frequently came upon the reservation, and about Forts Klamath and Warner, behaving in a defiant manner, saying that they had friends in Yreka who gave them passes and they should go where they pleased. So far as the assertion that they had "papers" was concerned, it was true that they carried letters written by persons of presumed
