When it had grown dark I took a few of the scouts with me out on the edge of camp perhaps a hundred yards from the corral, and when the Coyotes began their howling, we began firing, and in a few minutes there was not a sound to be heard.  We were satisfied that we would not be disturbed that night by the savages or the Coyotes, so we all turned in, and we had a good night’s rest.

The next morning we were up and had an early breakfast, and I had not seen the emigrants in such a cheerful mood as they all were this morning, since we left Fort Kerney.  Every one was cracking jokes.

As my scouts and I were about to leave the train to take our usual position as guards, one of the young girls came to me and said, “Mr. Drannan, I knew you were a good Indian fighter, but I did not know the Coyotes were so afraid of you.  Did you hang up some of their scalps so that they could see them and know they would share the same fate as their comrades if they did not keep away?”

I told her that the report of our guns told the Coyotes what to expect if they came where the bullets would hit them.  “But if my shooting interferes with your dancing, I will be careful and not do any thing to spoil the music.”

She laughed and said, “Never you mind, Mr. Drannan, we are going to give you a dance before many nights.”

I answered that I only knew how to dance one kind of a dance, and that was the scalp dance.

She said she had never seen a scalp dance, and said, “What is it like?”

Jim Bridger said, “When we have the next fight with the Indians, Will and I will show you how it is done, that is providing the Indians don’t get our scalps, and if they do they will show you.”

Jim said to me, “I don’t think we will have any more trouble with the Indians until we get to the sink of the Humboldt; it is about a hundred miles from here.  There is quite a strip of country through here that I am afraid we will have a great deal of trouble in, for at this time of the year all the game that is in the country seems to gather there, and as the Indians always follow the game I am afraid there will be plenty of them too.  But we could not have a better scare crow than the scalps we have scared the last two bands away with, and I think if we are always successful in getting the train corralled before they come on us we will get through in safety.”

I answered, “Jim, if it is possible for me to prevent it, you will never be surprised, for I and my men will keep a sharp look out for any signs of Indians at all times, and if there is any danger, you will know it as soon as we can get the news to you, for all the men under my control seem to be the right stuff, and they want to do what is right and for the best interest of all the train.”

Jim answered, “I know I can trust you, Will, to do all in your power to get this train through in safety.  I have every confidence in you.  If I had not had, I should not have undertaken such a dangerous business as we are engaged in.  But it stands us both in hand to be always on the lookout for danger, for we can never tell when the red friends may pounce on us when we are anywhere near them.”