Jim then said to them, “I wanted to speak to you together to tell you that all danger to this train is passed, there will be no more Indians to molest you, and you are perfectly safe to continue on your journey without fear of being troubled by them.  Tomorrow night we will camp in the Sacramento Valley, and being sure that we can leave you in perfect safety, our contract with the people of this train will be closed, and we will leave you the next morning.  There is one thing I am sorry for, though, and that is we can’t furnish any more music for a farewell dance with the ladies before we leave them.”

This joke created a laugh all around and brightened the faces of the older people, for we had shared in and protected them from too many dangers for the thought of separation from us not to sadden the faces of the older members of the train.

Mr. Tullock, one of the committee, got upon a chair and said, “I want to ask if there is a person here in this company can realize what these two men have done for us in the seven weeks they have been with us.  I for one know for a certainty that if we had not met them, and they had not accompanied us on the dangerous journey we have almost finished, not one of this large company would have been alive today.  I will acknowledge that I have no doubt that all the rest of you thought them to be barbarians when they took the scalps off those first Indians’ heads, but the events that followed showed their knowledge of their business and also of our ignorance in Indian warfare for that what we thought barbarism was the means of saving some, if not all our lives.  Now I will tell you what I propose doing.  I am going to write a recommendation for each one of these men, and I want every one of you to sign it.”

It sounded as if every one in the crowd said at once, “I’ll sign it.”

When Mr. Tullock stepped down, Jim took his place on the chair and said to the people, “I want you all to distinctly understand that Will Drannan and myself do not think we have done anything but our duty to the people of this train, and I want to thank all the men that have helped me to protect the train when the savages were upon us.  You all showed that you were brave men and willing to obey orders, which, I will tell you now, is a rare thing among so many men, and Will tells me that he had the best men as scouts to help him that he has ever had, that everyone tried to do his duty.  So it seems to me that we have all done our best to make the journey a success.  Now let us get away from here early in the morning, for I want to reach our camping ground in good season tomorrow evening.  We have quite a long drive before us tomorrow, but as good luck is on our side it is all downhill.”

We got an early start in the morning, and we landed at our camping place about four o’clock in the evening, and I think there were as many as twenty invited us to take supper with them that night.  The last one was from four young girls, who came to us together.  One of them told Jim that she wanted him and Mr. Drannan to come to their tent right away, as supper was waiting.  Jim answered that we didn’t want any supper but told her that if she would invite us to breakfast next morning and would promise there would be enough to eat to fill us both for three or four days, we would be glad to come and eat.