Epilogue 3^3 
Sumner having been a victim. Powell had been warned of 
this practice. As he advanced in evening dress a voice called 
out '‘How are your coat tails?’’—a greeting which was re¬ 
peated from all parts of the house. During a momentary lull 
he exclaimed with the peculiar squinting of the eyes and the 
half-laugh his friends so well remember: “Your greeting re¬ 
minds me of Dave Harkins’s reply when criticised for wear¬ 
ing a wamus ^ in July. Dave said, with his slow drawl, Hf 
you don’t like my wamus I can take it off.’ ” The suggestion 
took with the students and when the laughter had ceased, 
cries of “You ’ll do—go on,” came from everywhere. The 
incident roused Powell, and he has often said he never talked 
better nor had a more attentive audience. He was rewarded 
with enthusiastic applause. With his closing sentence he said : 
“I have given you the finest account of the exploration of the 
Colorado River my command of language permits. I have 
been as dramatic and as eloquent as I thought this occasion 
demanded. If any one wishes a plain statement regarding the 
exploration, I will be happy to give it to him at my hotel.” 
There was a hush for a moment as the students grasped the 
implication and cries of “Sold!” burst from them. A large 
number did call the next morning to discover whether he had 
actually stated facts, which of course he had. 
He possessed absolute independence of thought and 
never accepted what was told him unless he could demon¬ 
strate its accuracy. Often in his explorations he was told 
he could not travel in certain places, but he went on just 
the same to find out for himself. He had a rare faculty 
of inducing enthusiasm in others, and by reposing complete 
confidence in the individual, impelled him to do his very 
best. Thus he became the mainspring for much that was 
never credited to him, and which was really his in the 
germ or original idea. Gilbert truly says, “it is not easy 
to separate the product of his personal work from that which 
he accomplished through the organisation of the work of 
others. He was extremely fertile in ideas, so fertile that it 
was quite impossible that he should personally develop them 
’ A wamus in old times was a very heavy woollen garment. 
