When Howard expressed willingness to stay as long as necessary, Cochise explained that runners would be sent out immediately to try and locate as many warriors as possible, but that it might take ten or twelve days to accomplish.  He told Howard that in order to assure his men would not be attacked by American soldiers as they made their way back, he would send the general to Ft. Bowie to order that all military actions cease until the peace talks could take place.  Howard wanted to send Sladen instead, but Cochise would stand firm: 

     "Captain Sladen is only a 'Teniente;' the soldiers will not obey him.  They will hear you, for you are a 'Grande'.

     The long standing notion that Cochise was so stern and serious that he "never smiled" is challenged at this point in Sladen's journal when he writes the following:
 

     General Howard was even more surprising in one of his recountings of this incident, in that he stated that Cochise had suggested with a wry smile that Captain Sladen would be well taken care of by the young women of the band while Howard was away.  It should be noted here that the Apaches maintained surprisingly high moral standards (certainly higher than Howard and Sladen had expected to observe), and that only women who had lost husbands or had been previously married and then "divorced" were allowed to engage in sexual relations.  The purity of young maidens was fiercely protected.  It's entirely possible that Cochise was not serious and was only expressing a bit of well intentioned humor -- something he would do again later that same day in an informal talk with Jeffords and Sladen.

     Howard was relieved to hear Chie speak up to say that he would happily guide Howard through the mountains back to Fort Bowie, for the two of them had formed quite a camaraderie during the long trek from Cañada Alamosa.   At that, the conference, which had lasted only an hour or so, came to an end.  Cochise invited the Americans to join him in his own encampment, and it would be from that location that Howard and Chie would depart for the fort.