856 DANGERS OF STAGE-DRIVERS. 



the last two years he had had no trouble, though he still 

 carried a repeating rifle and a brace of revolvers in case of 

 necessity. He told me that he feared white desperadoes more 

 than Indians, as they could so easy pretend to be friendly and 

 shoot him unawares. Once, when he was known to be carrying 

 a good deal of money, one of them had met him on the road, 

 and had ridden alongside of the waggon for some time, asking 

 questions as to the country, and then, dropping behind, had 

 fired twice at him with a revolver, missing him but hitting one 

 of the horses. He had at once thrown himself down in front 

 of the seat, and, his team bolting, had given him time to get at 

 his rifle, with which he had fired at the man, driving him away, 

 though he had not hit him, as he was unable to take any aim 

 on account of the roughness of the road. 



I found that we had about three hundred miles to do, and 

 should be five days doing it, as our team was only two small 

 ponies which were to be changed twice each day. The day's 

 journeys were of very unequal lengths; the first and second 

 were about sixty miles each, and then came one of ninety-six, 

 while on each of the last two days we were to do forty miles. 



On the second day a young man, riding a cast cavalry horse 

 and leading a second, joined us, whom my driver knew, asking 

 him as he came up, " how it had gone/'' the answer being that 

 it was all right ; and most of what followed was about mutual 

 friends, after which the man left us and rode on. -I asked who 

 he was and what he meant by its " being all right," and was 

 told that the man kept a saloon at Miles City a place which 

 was springing up near Fort Keogh and that some months 

 before he had been joined by a partner from the East who had 

 brought a good deal of money with him for investment. The 



