rance of intending an affront. Buck Barry and Jones
seemed instantly to accept this necessity.

"Give them two or three of the saddle blankets," suggested Barry, after
a moment's thought. "We will have several light hosses going out; and if
we have to pad the saddles we can git along with skins or something."

We gave our visitors the blankets, therefore. They seemed well pleased,
arose, and shortly made a primitive sort of a camp a short distance
outside our stockade. We did no more washing that day. About five
o'clock our hunters came in with the best meat of a blacktail deer.
Bagsby listened attentively to our account of the interview. Then he
took a hindquarter of the newly killed buck and departed for the
Indians' camp, where he stayed for an hour.

"I don't think they are out for meanness," he announced when he
returned. "They tell me this yere is on a sort of short cut from some of
the Truckee lakes down to their villages. But we got to keep a sharp eye
on our horses; and we got to stand guard to-night."

Very early in the morning, when we were just up, several of the elders
came over to tell us that some of the young men would stay to work for
us, if we so desired. We replied that we had no goods with which to pay
for work. Shortly after, the whole tribe vanished down river.

For two nights Bagsby insisted on standing guard, and on having some of
us take turns at it. Then we declined flatly to do so any longer. The
Indians had gone far downstream, as their trail indicated to our
hunters, and had shown no signs of even hesitating on the way. We fell
into our old routine, and laughed at Bagsby when he shook his head.

About this time Johnny and McNally, scrambling of a Sunday for the sake
of a view, stumbled on a small ravine that came nearer realizing our
hoped-for strike than anything we had yet seen. After "puddling out" a
few potfuls of the pay dirt, we decided to move the cradles. It was not
over a half mile from camp, but was out of sight of the stockade. The
move was the occasion for a hot discussion. Bagsby wanted to reorganize,
and we were reluctant.

"Thar ought to be two men in camp," said he, "and thar ought never to be
less'n three together out hunting. And that's my idee--that ye're paying
me money for."

"That leaves us only four men to work the cradles," I objected. "Four
men out of nine working."

"Well, thar won't be _no_ men out of nine a-workin' if you don't
watch out," predicted Bags