We covered him up with stones and brush the best we could and left him and the poor dog together, although we tried every way we could to tempt the animal away.  The faithful dog would not leave his master’s body.  After trying persuasion until we saw it was no use, Jim said, “Let’s put a rope around his neck and lead him off.”  I answered, “No, Jim, if he will not be coaxed away, it would not be right to force him to leave his dead master.”  Jim said, “It seems too bad to leave him to starve, but you are right, Will,” and so we left him, and we never saw him again.

Saddened with the experience of the morning, we mounted our horses and struck for the trail.  We had nothing more to disturb us for the next three days.  About the middle of the afternoon of the third day we were riding along slowly, talking about where we should camp that night, when Jim happened to look off to the south, and he saw a band of Indians about a mile from us, and they were coming directly towards us, but we could not tell whether they had seen us or not.  Jim said, “Let’s put spurs to our horses and see if we can get away from them Red devils without a fight with them.”

We put our horses to a run and had kept them going this gate for five or six miles when we came to the top of a little ridge, and in looking back we saw the Indians about a half a mile in the rear and coming as fast as their horses could carry them.

Jim said, “Will, we are in for it now, and we must find a place where we can defend ourselves.”

At that moment I saw a little bunch of timber a few hundred yards ahead of us.  I pointed to it and said to Jim, “Let’s get in there and show them our war bonnet and scalps, and maybe that will save us from having a fight with the Red imps.”

Jim laughed and said, “Why dog gone it, Will, I forgot all about your war bonnet.  Sure, that will be the very thing to do.”

We had reached the timber while we talked.  We now dismounted and tied our horses, and in less time than one could think we had the war bonnet and scalps dangling from the trees all around our horses.  We had scarcely got ready for them when the Red Skins were in sight.  They raced around us in a circle but did not come in gun shot of us.  They went through this performance a few times and then stopped and took a good look at our decorations, and then they wheeled their horses and left in the direction they had come from, and that was the last we saw of that bunch of Indians.

We waited a few minutes to be sure that all was clear, and then we mounted again and rode about two miles before we found water so we could camp for the night.  When we were eating our supper that night, Jim said, “Will, I don’t think you realize what a benefit those scalps and that bonnet is to us; if I were you, I would never part with that bonnet as long as you are in the Indian country.  This being a Ute bonnet, the Comanches will offer you all kinds of prices for it, but if I were you I would not sell it at any price.”