would have invited them to join us and go to the station with us and get
something to eat. Not so with the wolves, they might have exacted our
bodies before they were satisfied with the repast.

I was never afraid of Indians, so hardly ever took an escort. My
greatest fear was that some white man would get frightened at the sight
of the reds and kill one of their band, and I knew if that should happen
we were in grave danger. I always tried to impress my passengers that to
protect ourselves we must guard against the desire to shoot an Indian.
Not knowing how to handle an Indian would work chaos among us. The
Indians did not like the idea of the white race being afraid of
them--the trains amassing themselves together seemed to mean to the
Indian that they were preparing for battle against them, and that made
them feel like "preparing for war in time of peace."

At one time on my route I remember as we were passing Fort Dodge,
Kansas, a fort on the Arkansas River, there was a caravan of wagons
having trouble with the Indians. I had an escort of some ten or fifteen
soldiers, but we passed through the fray with no trouble or
hair-splitting excitement.



CHAPTER II.

The Nine Mile Ridge Massacre.

During the coldest time in winter, in the month of January, 1863, nine
freight wagons left Santa Fe, New Mexico, on their way East. A few miles
before they reached the Nine Mile Ridge they encountered a band of