posal to surrender, rejecting emphatically all offers of peace. Even Steele, whose confidence in the Modocs was so great, was alarmed. That night he slept in the bed of Scarface, who sat beside him until morning to protect him from the bloodthirstiness of others.
In the morning Jack wore instead of his own a woman's hat, and Sconchin, as on the previous evening, made a war speech, violent in tone and manner. When he had finished. Jack threw off his woman's hat and hypocrisy together, and made a very determined war speech, declaring that he would never go upon a reservation to be starved. When told by Steele of the power of the American people, and the futility of resistance, he listened with composure, and then replied, " Kill with bullets don't hurt much; starve to death hurt a heap! "
He referred also to the punishment inflicted on his people when he was a boy by the Yreka volunteers under Ben Wright, and having made as strong a case as he could to justify his actions plainly defied the power of the United States. As much in sympathy with them as was Steele, he was glad to be permitted to return to Fairchild's on the morning of the 4th of March. No full report of this interview was ever made public. It was understood that the peace commissioners offered amnesty to all the Modocs who surrendered as prisoners of war, to remove them to Angel Island in San Francisco bay, and feed and shelter them until a reservation could be found for them in a warmer climate, presumably in Arizona. They were to be comfortably clothed and sheltered where they were until convej'ed to Angel Island, and Canby offered to secure permission for Captain Jack to visit the president of the United States in company with some of his head men.
These offers were, to the comprehension of Jack, but signs of weakness. Why should Canby and the commissioners extend forgiveness to an enemy if they could kill him ? Such an offer could only proceed
