Note V'-7 — Chapter V · CORRESPONDENCE.[V'-1]

It will be observed that Pike's syntax leaves the personal pronoun equivocal. We naturally read that Sergeant Meek killed one of his own men, i. e., a man of Pike's party; and I have been more than once summonsed, during my editorial function, to say who this man was. But there is no record that I can discover, and no other intimation than the above ambiguous clause, that any man of Pike's or Meek's party was killed by Meek. On the contrary, Pike's final word about his men accounts for every one of them: see p. 855, and note there. In the absence of any further evidence, we must understand that Sergeant Meek killed one of General Salcedo's men; and if so, might easily be accused of "great intractability."