I showed them how it was done, and then I said to them, “You will have to practice this way of shooting when fighting with the Indians.  They never stand up and fight like a white man does, and if they should attack us they will be on horse back, as that is their general mode of fighting, and you are liable to meet them any moment, and you will be in a country some of the time where you can not see a hundred yards ahead of you, and you must always be prepared to give them a warm reception.  When we come out here this afternoon I want you to all try your hand at shooting the way I have just done, from off your horse’s back with him on the run.”

I met Jim at dinner, and asked him what success he had training his teamsters.  He answered, “Why, we will get there bye and bye, for every man tries to do his best.”

At that moment two of the committee came to where Jim and I stood talking and said, “There is another large train of emigrants in sight.  What are you going to do with them?”

“I don’t intend to do any thing with them,” Jim answered.  “It is the business of you men of the committee to look after them, but if they join this train they will have to bear their share of the expense, the same as you do.”

One of the men asked how much extra we would charge to take the other train under our protection.  Jim answered, “If there are forty wagons or over that number, we will require one dollar a day extra and that will lighten the expense on this train, and they must comply with all the rules this train does; and if they are going to join us, I want them to do so at once, for I want to get away from here day after tomorrow.”

The man said he would attend to the matter at once, which he did, and all of the new train joined us with the exception of four wagons and eleven men.  These eleven men claimed they could take care of themselves at all times and in every place, and they pulled out alone.

The train over which Jim and I had control now numbered one hundred and four wagons, and we had to work day and night to get them in shape to start out on the road.  We left there the third day after taking charge of the train.  That afternoon when I took my scouts out to practice shooting, I had considerable sport at their expense.  They were all perfectly willing to try their guns and pistols, but they wanted some one to take the lead.  No one was willing to be the first one to shoot.  So I said, “I will settle the matter this way.  I will call the name of a man, and he must take his place and shoot.”  The first man I called rode out saying, “I have never shot from the back of a horse.”  I answered, “Well, there is always a first time for everything, and the quicker you start in the sooner you will learn.”

He rode off a short distance, whirled his horse and started for the tree.  When he got to within a few steps of the mark he fired his pistol, and made a very good shot, but the report of the pistol frightened his horse, and he wheeled and ran in the opposite direction of the one he was going, and he had run about two hundred yards before he could stop him.  When the man rode back and saw the shot he had made, he felt encouraged, and said, “I want to try that over again.”