The Indian Dispossessed
Indians, and a farmer, a former Indian trader, whose land adjoined the reservation. The summer of 1871 finds the special commissioners on the reservation, ready for business.
And the Indians! All is excitement and consternation. The crisis is upon them; the men from the Great Father have come to make another bargain! Come forth, chiefs; make the plea of your lives in defence of the Indian country! Make your words strong, but with a good heart, for the Great Father must not be displeased with what the Indians say. Speak from your hearts for this piece of ground, for the words of the white man are many, and the words of the Indian few!
The commissioners came, and the Indians gathered at the agency from all parts of the reservation. Times without number before, commissioners have come, and as many times Indians have gathered to meet them,—shrewd and forceful men, with purpose determined, to bargain with those who know little else than love of native land. Little wonder that the Indian moves each time to a less coveted country, and wonders why the Great Spirit of his fathers has forsaken him.
But in this particular instance the expectant whites reckoned without one man; it is necessary to go back a little. A salient feature of President Grant's "peace policy" was the Board of Indian Commissioners, authorized by special act of Congress, "to
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