time to do
anything further they saw the gun. They were near enough to make it
certain that one shot would take deadly effect; but instead of shooting
one Indian, I trained the gun so that I might quickly choose among the
three. In an instant each Indian had dropped to the side of his horse
and was speeding away in great haste. The old saying that "almost any
one will fight when cornered" was exemplified in this incident; but I
did not want any more such experiences, and consequently thereafter
became more careful not to be separated from the other wagons.

On the whole, we did not have much trouble with the Indians in 1852. The
great numbers of the emigrants, coupled with the superiority of their
arms, made them comparatively safe. It must be remembered, also, that
this was before the treaty-making period, and the Indians of the Plains
were not yet incensed against white men in general.

Herds of buffalo were more often seen than bands of Indians. The buffalo
trails generally followed the water courses or paralleled them. But
sometimes they would lead across the country with scarcely any
deviation from a direct course. When on the road a herd would
persistently follow their leader, whether in the wild tumult of a
stampede or in leisurely grazing as they traveled.

A story is told, and it is doubtless true, of a chase in the upper
regions of the Missouri, where the leaders of the buffalo herd, either
voluntarily or by pressure from the mass behind, leaped to their death
over a perpendicular bluff a hundred feet high, overlooking the river.
The herd followed blindly until not only hundreds but thousands lay
struggling at the foot of the bluff. They piled one upon another till
the space between the river and the bluff was bridged, and the last of
the victims plunged headlong into the river.

Well up on the Platte, but below Fort Laramie, we had the experience of
a night stampede that struck terror to the heart of man and beast. It so
happened that we had brought our cattle into camp that evening, a thing
we did not usually do. We had driven the wagons into a circle, with the
tongue of each wagon chained to the hind axletree of the wagon ahead.
The cattle were led inside the circle and the tents were pitched
outside.

[Illustration: A night out on the range.]

Usually I would be out on the range with the oxen at night, and if I
slept at all, snuggled up close to the back of my good ox, Dandy; but
that night, with t