As it was getting near noon I called it off until after dinner.  When we were near the corral going back to camp, I pointed to a large log that was laying on the ground and told the boys to meet me there on foot, and I would put them through another kind of a drill, which was more essential for them to know than the one we had been practicing.  One of them said, “What can it be?”

I answered, “It is to learn to signal to each other without speaking when you are in danger.”

After dinner I had a talk with Jim in regard to how he was succeeding in drilling his teamsters.  He said they were doing fine and would be ready to pull out in the morning.  He said, “Will, these are not such people to handle as the last train we drilled.”

I said, “What makes you think so, Jim?”

He answered, “There are a few in this outfit who do not believe there will be trouble with the Indians.”

I answered, “Well, Jim, these are of the class that will not obey orders, and they will get the worst of it, and no one can blame us.”

When I went to meet the boys, they were all standing or sitting on the fallen tree, waiting for me.  I asked if they had ever heard a Coyote howl.  They said not until they heard them on this trip.  Then I explained to them, that the Indians were so used to hearing the Coyotes howl that they took no notice of that kind of a noise day or night, so we frontiers-men always used the bark or howl of a Coyote as a signal to call each other together in times of danger.  I then gave a howl that the boys said no Coyote could beat, and in a couple of hours I had them all drilled so they could mimic the Coyotes very well.

We went back to camp, got our horses, and put in the afternoon in shooting at targets on horse back.  Before we separated that evening, I told the men what position I wanted each one of them to take when the train was ready to move in the morning.  I also told them they must always meet me at the head of the train before we started the train every morning to get their instructions for the day.  Every one of the ten seemed to be willing and ready to obey everything I asked them to do.

CHAPTER VI.

All was in readiness for the start on the road the next morning, and we pulled out in good season.  Every thing worked smoothly for the next three days, and then we were in the Ute country, and there were also a great many Buffalo scattered all through the country.  I had seen some signs of Indians, but up to this time I had seen only one small band of them, and they were going in the opposite direction from the one we were going.

The evening of the third day, after we had eaten our supper, about twenty men came to where Jim and I were sitting on a log having a smoke and a private talk together.

One of them who seemed to be the leader said, “We want some Buffalo meat, and we propose to go out and get some tomorrow.  Now what do you think about it?”