wheels. We left them there bewailing their misfortune and blaming each
other for the carelessness which worked the mishap. We never saw them
again.

This incident is an illustration of those cases where a man obtained his
passage by contributing something to the outfit and working his way
through. There were quite a number of this class, they having no
property rights in the train.

At the usual time we turned in for dinner near by a camp of two or three
wagons. On the side of one wagon was a doctor's sign, who, we afterwards
learned, was the proprietor of the train. As we were quietly eating and
resting we suddenly heard some one cursing and yelling in the other
camp, and saw two men, one the hired man and the other the doctor, the
latter being armed with a neck-yoke and chasing the hired man around the
wagon, and both running as fast as they could. They had made several
circuits, the doctor striking at the man with all his might at each
turn, when some of us went over to try to stop the fight. Just at this
point, the hired man, as he turned the rear of the wagon, whipped out an
Allen revolver and turning shot the doctor in the mouth, the charge
coming out nearly under the ear. The doctor and the neckyoke struck the
ground about the same time. His eyes were blinded by powder and he had
the appearance of being dangerously if not fatally wounded. Everybody
was more or less excited except the hired man. From expressions all
around in both trains, the hired man seemed to have the most friends.
There were many instances of this kind, though none quite so tragic, the
quarrels usually arising from the owner of the wagons constantly
brow-beating and finding fault with the hired man.

Again I saw an instance where two men were equal partners all around, in
four horses, harness and wagon. They seemed to have quarreled so much
that they agreed to divide up and quit travelling together. They divided
up their horses and provisions, and then measured off the wagon-bed and
sawed it in two parts, also the reach, and then flipped a copper cent to
see which should have the front part of the wagon. After the division
they each went to work and fixed up his part of the wagon as best he
could, and drove on alone.

The entire trip from Monroe, Michigan, our starting-point, to Hangtown,
the point of landing in California, covered 2,542 miles, and we were
five months, lacking six days, in making it. Today the same trip can be
made in a h