I now started my horse at full speed, and before I had got to the tree I had fired my second shot, and both balls struck near the cross, but I was surprised, and I will not deny also amused, to see the way the boys were trying to stop their horses; they were running in every direction and appeared to be nearly frightened to death, and apparently their riders had no control over them, but finally they checked them and rode back to where I stood.

I said, “Boys, you certainly have your horses trained to run from the Indians if you can’t stop to fight them.”

One of the boys said, “I never saw my horse act the fool as he has done today.”

I said, “Now, which one of you are going to try it again first?  Don’t all speak at once.”

It was some minutes before anyone answered.  At last one of them said, “I will try it.  Shall we all come down together as we did with you?”

I told him, “No, I want you to all to try it single-handed once and then we will try it in groups of three, but if you are afraid you cannot manage your horse, I will ride beside you.”

He answered, “No, I have got to break him in to it, and I might as well do it at the start.”

So the others got out of his way, and he rode to the brush, wheeled his horse, put the spurs to him and came at full speed.  When within fifty feet of the tree he fired his rifle and missed the tree but pulled his pistol and made a good shot, and he did not have much trouble in stopping his horse this time.

When he rode back to us, I showed him the hole where the bullet struck it and told him he had done exceptionally well.

He said, “Can’t I give it another trial?”

I said, “Not now.  Best let everyone have a try first.”

I saw that they were a little encouraged by the first one’s success, so
I said, “Who comes next?”

One of them said, “I reckon it is me next,” and he was on his horse in a twinkle and off for the brush.  This man was in a little too much of a hurry; he shot too soon and missed the tree, which scared his horse, and he turned and ran in an opposite direction, and the rider had all he could do to attend to him so he did not fire his pistol at all.  When he came back the boys had a laugh on him.

He said, “All right, see that the balance of you does better.”

They all gave it a trial, and out of the ten men only three hit the mark with either rifle or pistol.  Before we got through practicing, there must have been as many as a hundred men from the camp watching the performance.  After each man had tried singly, I formed them in squads of three, and they were more successful that way than they were alone from the fact that their horses were getting used to the report of the guns.

The reader will understand that the drilling was done more for the benefit of the horses than it was for the men, for many times if the horses were unmanageable when in a fight with the Indians, the rider was in a great deal more danger of being killed than he would have if he could manage his horse.