At this moment the committee came to us and said, “We want you two men to understand that there is no fault to be found with what you have done since you took charge of this train.  We realize that every move you have made has been for our benefit.  Mr. Bridger, you have no doubt found out long before this time that in a large company like this, everyone can not be satisfied.  No matter how hard you may try to please them, there will still be some growlers and, pardon me for saying, there are cranks among the women as well as among men.”

At this the old lady who had called Bridger wicked stepped up to Jim and said, “Mr. Bridger, I hope you will excuse me, for what I said.  I will admit that I did not know what I was talking about, and if you will forgive me this time I will find no more fault with you.”

Jim made no reply to the lady’s remarks, but turning to the rest of the company he said, “Now get ready to have a good dance tonight, for we are going to have lots of music, for the Coyotes will smell the blood of the Indians on one side of us and that of the Antelope on the other side, so there will be music from a double band.”

This was the last word of complaint that was expressed, while we were with this train.  Everyone seemed satisfied, and all things went pleasantly from this time on.  But talk about Coyotes’ howling.  This was one of the nights when they did howl.  They came so close to us that we could hear them snap their teeth.  Apparently there were hundreds of them around us.

After leaving this camp we had no more trouble for two days.  The second night we camped on a little stream which was a tributary to Snake river.  In the morning before we camped at this place, I told Jim when I left him with my scouts that he need not expect to see me until supper time.  “You know, Jim, that we are in the heart of the Ute country, and I shall prospect every hill or ravine where there is liable to be found signs of Indians.”

That evening it was perhaps a couple of miles before we got to the camp and a mile or so away from the other scouts, I ran on three wagons standing right in the middle of the road.  After examining them a few minutes, I came to the conclusion that they had been standing where they were all winter.  I saw that there had been ox-teams attached to them some time, but there was no sign of yokes there.  The covers were still on the wagons, so I got off my horse and climbed into one of them.  I found some flour and probably three hundred pounds of bacon in the three wagons.  There was no bedding, but some clothing for both men and women, which was quite old and worn.  On the front gate of one of the wagons I found considerable blood, and there was blood on the tongue of the same wagon.  I now made an examination of the ground to see if there were any signs of a fight.  After I had looked around some time, I was convinced that the owners of the wagons, whoever they had been, had been massacred by the Indians.