Here the proprietor of the Armijo House was at the station with his hackman awaiting the train’s arrival.  He called out the name of his house at the door of one car, and then turning to the hackman said:  “You take care of the passengers in this car, and I will go to the next.”

These inoffensive words caught the ear of the tough man from the East, who was pushing his way to the car platform.  He drew his pistol and started for the nearest man on the station platform, shouting: 

“You’ll take care of us, will you?  I’ll show you smart fellows out here that you are not able to take care of me.”

He flourished his revolver as he spoke and, just as his feet struck the second step of the car, he fired, the ball passing over the head of the man on the station platform.  The sound of his pistol was quickly followed by two loud reports, and the tough man fell forward upon the platform dead.  The man at whom he had apparently fired had drawn his revolver and shot him twice through the heart.

A crowd gathered as the train rolled on, leaving the tough man where he had fallen.  Of course the man who killed him, a gambler of the town, was fully exonerated at the inquest, and was never even indicted for the killing.

CHAPTER VIII.

WARDS OF OUR NATIVE LAND.

The Indians’ Admirers and Critics—­At School and After—­Indian Courtship and Marriage—­Extraordinary Dances—­Gambling by Instinct—­How “Cross-Eye” Lost his Pony—­Pawning a Baby—­Amusing and Degrading Scenes on Annuity Day.

Opinions differ materially as to the rights and wrongs, privileges and grievances, and worthiness and worthlessness of the North American Indian.  Some people think that the red man has been shamefully treated and betrayed by the white man, and that the catalogue of his grievances is as long as the tale of woe the former is apt to tell, whenever he can make himself understood by a sympathetic listener.

Holders of this opinion live for the most part in districts where there are no Indians located.

There are others who think that the Indian has been absurdly pampered by the Government, and that it would be as sensible to try to change the arrangement of seasons as to attempt to prevent the survival of the fittest, or, in other words, to interfere with the gradual, but in their opinion inevitable, extermination of the Indian.

Those holding this extreme view are for the most part those who live near Indian reservations, and who have had opportunities of studying the red man’s character.

Both views are of course unduly severe.  As a useful citizen the Indian varies considerably, and it is rather as an interesting study that we approach the subject.