"Hold the sheriff level--that's what you do for us." "I'll see that he don't get gay," he replied, and his hearty confidence did them all good. After the sheriff and his deputy went out, Elsie said: "Oh, it was wonderful! That old man who spoke last must be the Edwin Booth of the tribe. He was superbly dramatic." "He took my words very deeply to heart. That was Grayman, one of the most intelligent of all my head men; but he has had a great deal of trouble. He comprehends all too much of the tragedy of his situation." Elsie sat with her elbows on the table, gazing in silence towards the empty fireplace. She looked weary and sad. Curtis checked himself. "I regret very deeply the worry and discomfort all this brings upon you." "Oh, I'm not thinking of myself this time, I am thinking of the hopeless task you have set yourself. You can't solve this racial question--it's too big and too complicated. Men are simply a kind of ferocious beast. They go to work killing each other the way chickens eat grasshoppers." "Your figure is wrong. If our Christian settlers only killed Indians to fill their stomachs they'd stop some time; but they kill them because they're like the boy about his mother--tired of seeing 'em 'round." There was a time when Elsie's jests were frankly on the side of the strong against the weak, but she was becoming oppressed with the suffering involved in the march of civilization. "What a fine face Grayman has; I couldn't help thinking how much more refined it was than Winters! As for the cowboys, they were hulking school-boys; I was not a bit afraid of them after they were dismounted." "Unfortunately they are a kind of six-footed beast, always mounted; there isn't a true frontiersman among them. It angered me that they had the opportunity to even look at you." His intensity of gaze and the bitterness of his voice took away her breath for an instant, and before she could reply Jennie and Lawson came in. Lawson was smiling. "Parker is righteously incensed. He tried to enter the council an hour ago and your dusky minions stopped him. He is genuinely alarmed now, and only waiting for daylight to take flight." "Jerome is a goose," said Elsie. "He's a jackass at times. A man of talent, but a bore when his yellow streak comes out." Turning to Curtis he said, very seriously, "Is there anything I can do for you, Captain?" "You might wire your version of the disturbance to the Secretary along with mine. We can safely look for an avalanche of newspaper criticism, and I would like to anticipate their outbreak." "Our telegrams will be at once made public--" "Undoubtedly, and for that reason we must use great care in their composition. I have mine written; please look it over." Jennie, who had dropped into a chair, checked a yawn. "Oh, dear; I wish it were morning." Curtis looked at her and laughed. "I think you girls would better go to bed. Your eyes are heavy-lidded with weariness."