coadjutor as Hedges, a man who can be depended upon to neglect no duty.
We two are to stand guard the first half of this first night--that is,
until 1 o'clock to-morrow morning; then Washburn and Hauser take our
places. Fresh Indian signs indicate that the red-skins are lurking near
us, and justify the apprehensions expressed in the letter which Hauser
and I received from James Stuart, that we will be attacked by the Crow
Indians.[A] I am not entirely free from anxiety. Our safety will depend
upon our vigilance. We are all well armed with long range repeating
rifles and needle guns, though there are but few of our party who are
experts at off-hand shooting with a revolver.

[Illustration: TAKING A SHOT AT JAKE SMITH'S HAT.]

In the course of our discussion Jake Smith expressed his doubt whether
any member of our party except Hauser (who is an expert pistol shot) is
sufficiently skilled in the use of the revolver to hit an Indian at even
a close range, and he offered to put the matter to a test by setting up
his hat at a distance of twenty yards for the boys to shoot at with
their revolvers, without a rest, at twenty-five cents a shot. While
several members of our party were blazing away with indifferent
success, with the result that Jake was adding to his exchequer without
damage to his hat, I could not resist the inclination to quietly drop
out of sight behind a clump of bushes, where from my place of
concealment I sent from my breech-loading Ballard repeating rifle four
bullets in rapid succession, through the hat, badly riddling it. Jake
inquired, "Whose revolver is it that makes that loud report?" He did not
discover the true state of the case, but removed the target with the
ready acknowledgment that there were members of our party whose aim with
a revolver was more accurate than he had thought. I think that I will
make confession to him in a few days. I now wish that I had brought with