my team. I managed to hold them in the road, but they refused to quiet
down, kicking, rearing, and plunging in spite of their load; and once
as they jerked me forward, I noticed there was a dog or two under the
wagon, nipping at their heels. There was a six-shooter lying on the
seat beside me, and reaching forward I fired it downward over the end
gate of the wagon. By the merest accident I hit a dog, who raised a
cry, and the last I saw of him he was spinning like a top and howling
like a wolf. I quieted the team as soon as possible, and as I looked
back, there was a man and woman pursuing me, the latter in the lead. I
had gumption enough to know that they were the owners of the dog, and
whipped up the horses in the hope of getting away from them. But the
grade and the load were against me, and the next thing I knew, a big,
bony woman, with fire in her eye, was reaching for me. The wagon wheel
warded her off, and I leaned out of her reach to the far side, yet she
kept abreast of me, constantly calling for her husband to hurry up.
I was pouring the whip into the horses, fearful lest she would climb
into the wagon, when the hub of the front wheel struck her on the
knee, knocking her down. I was then nearing the summit of the divide,
and on reaching it, I looked back and saw the big woman giving her
husband the pommeling that was intended for me. She was altogether too
near me yet, and I shook the lines over the horses, firing a few shots
to frighten them, and we tore down the farther slope like a fire
engine.

There are two events in my life that this chronicle will not fully
record. One of them is my courtship and marriage, and the other my
connection with a government contract with the Indian department.
Otherwise my life shall be as an open book, not only for my own
posterity, but that he who runs may read. It has been a matter of
observation with me that a plain man like myself scarcely ever refers