"'Joke? no; them Apaches was as hostile as Gila monsters! But
beholdin' me, as they regyards it--for they don't in their ontaught
simplicity make allowance for me bein' implanted in the snow, gunless
an' he'pless--so brave, awaitin' deestruction without a quiver, their
admiration mounts to sech heights it drowns within 'em every thought of
cancellin' me with that lance, an' tharupon they pays me their savage
compliments in manner an' form deescribed. They don't regyard
themse'fs as surrenderin' neither; they esteems passin' me the lance as
inauguratin' a armistice an' looks on themse'fs as guests of honor an'
onder my safegyard, free to say "How!" an' vamos back to the warpath
ag'in whenever the sperit of blood begins to stir within their breasts.
I knows enough of their ways to be posted as to what they expects; an'
bein', I hopes, a gent of integrity, I accedes to 'em that exact status
which they believes they enjoys.

"'They travels with me that day, eats with me that evenin' when we
makes our camp, has a drink with me all 'round, sings savage hymns to
me throughout the night, loads up with chuck in the mornin', offers me
no end of flattery as a dead game gent whom they respects, says
_adios_; an' then they scatters like a flock of quail. Also, havin'
resoomed business on old-time lines, they takes divers shots at us with
their Winchesters doorin' the next two days, an' kills a hoss an'
creases my sergeant. Why don't I corral an' hold 'em when they're in
my clutch? It would have been breakin' the trooce as Injuns an' I
onderstands sech things; moreover, they let me go free without
conditions when I was loser by every roole of the game.'"