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 to his love affairs.  At my time of life, now nearing my alloted span, I have little sympathy with the great mass of fiction which exploits the world-old passion.  In no sense of the word am I a well-read man, yet I am conscious of the fact that during my younger days the love story interested me; but when compared with the real thing, the transcript is usually a poor one.  My wife and I have now walked up and down the paths of life for over thirty-five years, and, if memory serves me right, neither one of us has ever mentioned the idea of getting a divorce.  In youth we shared our crust together; children soon blessed and brightened our humble home, and to-day, surrounded by every comfort that riches can bestow, no achievement in life has given me such great pleasure, I know no music so sweet, as the prattle of my own grandchildren.  Therefore that feature of my life is sacred, and will not be disclosed in these pages.

I would omit entirely mention of the Indian contract, were it not that old friends may read this, my biography, and wonder at the omission.  I have no apologies to offer for my connection with the transaction, as its true nature was concealed from me in the beginning, and a scandal would have resulted had I betrayed friends.  Then again, before general amnesty was proclaimed I was debarred from bidding on the many rich government contracts for cattle because I had served in the Confederate