we sent a telegram to the President: asked him if he had authorized this thing. We waited three days for the answer. No answer came.
“In four days we reached our own home. We found the inspector there. While we were gone, he had come to our people and told them to move.
“Our people said: Where are our chiefs? Wat have you done with them Why have you not brought them back? We wll not move till our chiefs come back.
“Then the inspector told them: ‘To-morrow you must be ready to move. If you are not ready you will be shot.’ Then the soldiers came to the doors with their bayonets, and ten families were frightened. The soldiers brought wagons; they put their things in and were carried away. The rest of the tribe would not move.
“When we got there, we asked the inspector why he had done this thing, and he got very angry.
“Then we said to him: ‘We did not think we would see your face again, after what has passed. We thought never to see your face any more. But here you are.’
“We said to him: ‘This land is ours. It belongs to us. You have no right to take it from us. The land is crowded with people, and only this is left to us.’
“We said to him: ‘Let us alone. Go away from us. If you want money, take all the money which the President is to pay us for twelve years to come. You may have it all, if you will go and leave us our lands.’
“Then, when he found that we would not go, he wrote for more soldiers to come.
“Then the soldiers came, and we locked our doors, and the women and children hid in the woods. Then the soldiers drove all the people the other side of the river, all but my brother Big Snake and I. We did not go; and the soldiers took us and carried us away to a fort and put us in jail.
