up and rode to a favorable place and cooked
our breakfast. While we were eating an Indian rode into camp, who hailed
us in jargon and we assumed at once that he was a Columbia. He said he
had lost a horse while deer hunting and if we were going any further
south he would like to travel with us. We thought little of the matter
and readily gave permission, the more so as he carried a good rifle and
would be a welcome addition to our party in the event of a "scrap" with
the Snakes. As we proceeded up Rock Creek, we still found cattle tracks
and were loth to turn back. We halted at noon to rest our horses and
cook our dinner by the side of a pool in the bed of a creek. While the
younger Driskol was getting dinner, the elder Driskol keeping a watch, a
wild goose lit in the pond 20 feet away. Picking up my rifle I shot its
head off. I will now confess that if ever a foolish, thoughtless boy got
a scolding I got it then and there, from the elder Driskol. He declared
I was trying to bring "the Snakes right down to murder us all." I was
sorry of course for my thoughtlessness, but all the same I got my goose.
That evening that goose was the subject of many lectures, was in fact a
continued story.

As evening wore on and we were getting further and further away from our
camp on the John Day, we were more than usually careful. Patches of
willows, narrow canyons and high rye grass bottoms were avoided. In
fact, we kept on open ground where we could see an enemy several hundred
yards away. We figured that in an open field fight we could more than
hold our own, notwithstanding the fact that we were only four in number,
counting the Indian. But by-and-by, our traveling companion became a
source of considerable uneasiness. When questioned regarding his lost
horse he did not give straight replies, but was evasive and somewhat
contradictory, and Mr. Driskol began to have suspicions regarding his
friendly intentions. But what to do, or how to rid ourselves of his
presence, was a puzzling question. Besides, we felt that we were safer
where he could be watched than if out of our sight. That night, after
eating our suppers, we traveled some distance after dark and stopped on
a level piece of ground away from the creek bottom. We felt safer in the
open country than in the high rye grass, especially on account of our
Indian companion. We were very careful not to let the Indian see that we
were suspicious of him, and after unsaddling and unpackin