BACK TO THE BUFFALO RANGE 



Uncle Sam, giving bogus receipts for what they 

 took and saying that these receipts would be 

 honored and paid on their presentation to any 

 government quartermaster — which, of course, was 

 pure fiction. 



Where they failed to get what they wanted by 

 other methods they did not hesitate to use vio- 

 lence, even to killing those who resisted their 

 demands. 



Such were the Kansas jayhawkers of those 

 times, whom we had hoped to escape meeting; 

 but we had talked much of the possibilities and 

 probabilities of such an encounter and had de- 

 cided on certain plans of action to frustrate the 

 probable movements of any jayhawkers whom we 

 might meet. We did not propose to be robbed 

 and stood ready to put up a strong bluff and, if 

 necessary, to fight to defend our property. In 

 view of a possible fight, arms were to be kept in 

 order and ammunition handy. 



We had nearly reached Council Grove without 

 encountering any jayhawkers and had begun to 

 flatter ourselves that we were going to slip through 

 the settlements without having trouble with them. 

 At one or two places along the road, however, we 

 had heard that a party of jayhawkers had lately 

 been seen on the route ahead of us, and we had 

 been cautioned to look out for them. 



41 



