Jim then said, “Well, I don’t suppose they have any use for a commander over at the Fort then.  Suppose the Indians should make an attack on them over there, and there was no Commander there, what do you think the soldiers would do?  I will tell you what would happen.  The most of the soldiers would be scalped, and it is the same way with a train of emigrants if the Indians attack them and they have no leader or what we call a Captain; they will all be scalped and in a mighty short time too.  Now you call the men together and come to our camp, and we will talk this matter over, and then we will see if we can make a bargain with the crowd.”

In a few minutes it seemed as if all the men and women of the train were standing around our camp.

Jim said to them, “I want some man who is a good reader to read this letter to the company.”

And he held up one of the letters of recommendation given us by the people of the train we had left a few days before.  A middle-aged man came forward and said, “I reckon I can read it; I am a school teacher by profession, and I am used to reading all kinds of handwriting.”

He took the letter, stepped up on a log and in a clear, loud voice read it to the company.  After he had finished reading it, the man handed the letter back to Jim with the remark that it was a fine recommendation and gave a character few men could claim.

Jim now told the emigrants that before we took charge of a train he always had the men of the train select a committee from their number, and this committee had the entire charge of the business in making arrangements with us and all other matters that might take place on the trip.  “Now if you want us to pilot this train across to California, get together and select your committee, and they can come to us and we will talk business.”

It was now nearly eleven o’clock at night, so Jim told the people that we had traveled a long distance that day and were very tired, and he thought we had better not make any bargain that night.  We would go to our rest, and in the morning they could tell us what they had decided on.  Next morning Jim and I were up very early, and so were the most of the emigrants.  We were building a fire to get our breakfast when one of the emigrants came to us and invited us to take breakfast with him.  He said there had been a committee selected, that the men talked the matter over after they left us the night before, and they chose five men to make arrangements with us.  “But as we did not go to bed until nearly morning, I don’t think they are all up yet,” he said, smiling.

We went with him and found breakfast waiting for us.  After we had finished, two of the men came to us and said they were two of the five who had been appointed to do business with us, and that the other three would meet us at our camp in a few minutes.  So Jim and I went back to our camp, and in a very short time the five men were with us.  One of them asked us how much we would charge to pilot them to California.  Jim said, “How many wagons have you?”