But although cast down, they were not destroyed. I was a little surprised to see how strongly they still clung to their religion. They returned to their camp, held their services often from six o’clock until twelve at night, shook by the hour, lit candles and placed them on their heads and danced around with them thus, sang loud enough to be heard for miles away, acted much like Indian doctors, only they professed to try to get rid of sins instead of sickness, and so acted that in the physician’s opinion it was likely to make some of them crazy. When Ellen was first taken sick I had more than half-expected that she would die, for I believed that Providence would take away one of their number before their eyes would be open enough to see the foolishness of it--but I hoped that one death would be enough. In the meantime the agent made us a flying visit, and made some threats of what he might do if the foolishness was not stopped. As long as it was purely a Catholic church he felt that he had no right to interfere, but now the Catholic ceremonies were a very small part, merely like a thin spreading of butter over something else, and he knew that if a Catholic priest had charge he would have locked them up very quickly. He proposed to visit us again about the middle of October, and spread a report that if they did not stop he might depose the chiefs and banish Billy Clams. He had the right to do the latter, because, when Billy Clams had returned to the reservation a few years previous, after having resided at Port Madison for quite a time, he was allowed to come only on promise of good behavior. His misdeeds were not to be forgotten, but only laid on a shelf for future reference, if required. But this threat apparently did not frighten them. The chiefs did not care if they were deposed, were about ready to resign, and did not wish to have any thing more to do with the “Boston” religion or the agent. Billy Clams was ready, if need be, to suffer as Christ did: he was willing to be a martyr.