JOHN DAVENPORT, COLFAX 



483 



There were more Indians there 

 than there were in Silverton, 

 and, perhaps, for that reason 

 alone, John Davenport was 

 happy. He laughed and played 

 practical jokes on them, and they 

 seemed to like it, and they talked 

 loud whenever he passed by. In 

 fact, they cackled like geese 

 whenever 'his name was men- 

 tioned. They hung about his 

 store and examined minutely the 

 fiber or texture of all the goods 

 he had for sale, even examined 

 the grains of brown sugar, dur- 

 ing which time he learned their 

 language, and they in turn 

 learned most of his. He soon 

 came to be the most popular man 

 in town with whites as well as 

 Indians. Other tribes came and 

 camped and sold their beaver 

 skins and bought his flour and 

 blankets, and before many 

 months had passed, John Daven- 

 port was doing a big business. 



One evening a strange Chief 

 came to his store. He spoke dif- 

 ferent jargon, even looked differ- 

 ent from the other Indians. 

 Through an interpreter that he 

 had, he said that he wanted to 

 sell some deer and beaver skins 

 and buy big lots of, things. 



"All right," answered the 

 storekeeper. "We will buy your 

 skins .and sell you blankets after 

 six o'clock." At which prospect the 

 Indian Chief seemed pleased. 



At the given hour the hides the 



JOHN DAVENPORT 



commenced to buy when midnight 

 came. The Old Chief realized that the 

 merchant and his clerks were tired out, 

 Indian tribe had to sell were bought in, and said to the proprietor, "We have 



come a long way and haven't brought 

 many teepees, trusting? to the clear 



the transfer consuming about twenty 

 minutes, but when the Indians of the 

 new tribe, which wese more than a 

 hundred, began to buy, it took more 

 time. 



If an Indian was going to buy silver 

 spoons by the dozen that were all of 

 the same pattern, he would examine 



trusting 



weather, and it is now beginning to 

 rain, we want to know if you will let 

 us Indians, squaws and papooses sleep 

 here on the floor of the store." John 

 Davenport had been used to joking 

 Indians, but at this hour of the night 



each spoon separately, spending from it struck him as rather queer. He smiled 

 ten to fifteen minutes on every spoon, at the Indian, but saw no smile from 

 So with this method they had hardly the Indian in return. The merchant 



