“Then I let her go; and I came away, but I left my heart and happiness behind. Shoz-Dijiji has left to him only his pride and his hate—his hate of the pindah-lickoyee.” “If you hate the white-eyed girl now, it is well,” said Gian-nah-tah. “The pindah-lickoyee are low born and fools. They are not fit for an Apache!” “I do not hate the white-eyed girl, Wichita,” said Shoz-Dijiji, sadly. “If I did I should not be unhappy. I love her.” Gian-nah-tah shook his head. “There are many pretty girls of the Shis-Inday,” he said presently, “who look with bright eyes upon Shoz-Dijiji.” “I do not love them,” replied the Black Bear. “Let us talk no more of these things. Gian-nah-tah is my friend. I have spoken. Let us go and listen to the talk of Geronimo and the other old warriors.” “That is better talk for men,” agreed Gian-nah-tah. Together they strolled over and joined the group of warriors that surrounded the old war chief of the Apaches. White Horse, Geronimo’s brother, was speaking. “There is much talk,” he said, “among the Indians at San Carlos that the chiefs of the white-eyed soldiers are going to put Geronimo and many other of our leaders in prison.” “They put me in prison once before and kept me there for four months,” said Geronimo. “They never told me why they kept me there or why they let me out.” “They put you in prison to kill you as they did Mangas Colorado,” said Na-tanh; “but their hearts turned to water, so that they were afraid.” “They will never get Geronimo in prison again,” said the old war chief. “I am getting old; and I should like to have peace, but rather would I take the war trail for the rest of my life than be again chained in the prison of the pindah-lickoyee. “We do not want to fight any more. We came in as Nan-tan-des-la-par-en[1] asked us to. We planted crops, but the rain will not come. Usen is angry with us; and The Great White Chief cannot feed us because his Agent steals the beef that is meant for us, and lets us starve. He will not let us hunt for food if we live at San Carlos.” ----- [1] “Captain-with-the-brown-clothes”—Major-General George Crook, U. S. A. ----- “Who is this white-eyed thief that he may say where an Apache warrior may make his kunh-gan-hay or where he shall hunt?” demanded Shoz-Dijiji. “The Black Bear makes his camp where he will, hunts where he will!” “Those are the big words of a young man, my son,” said Geronimo. “It is fine to make big talk; but when we would do these things the soldiers come and kill us; every white-eyed man who meets our hunters upon the trails shoots at them. To them we are as coyotes. Not content with stealing the land that Usen gave to our forefathers, not content with slaughtering the game that Usen put here to feed us, they lie to us, they cheat us, they hunt us down like wild beasts.”