erning hostile Indians
lying in wait at certain known danger spots along the trails, and of the
hostile acts of the Mormons; but the Mormons were behind and the trail
was ahead, and the rumors of its dangers easily took precedence. It was
reported that the first caravan, already on the trail and pressing hard
on the heels of spring, was being escorted by a force of two hundred
United States dragoons, the third time in the history of the Santa Fe
trade that a United States military escort had been provided. Dangers
were magnified, dangers were scorned, dangers were courted, depending
upon the nature of the men relating them. There were many noisy
fire-eaters who took their innings now, in the security of the town, who
would become as wordless, later on, as some of the tight-lipped and
taciturn frontiersmen were now. Greenhorns from the far-distant East
were proving their greenness by buying all kinds of useless articles,
which later they would throw away one by one, and were armed in a manner
befitting buccaneers of the Spanish Main. To them, easiest of all, were
old and heavy oxen sold, animals certain to grow footsore and useless by
the time they had covered a few hundred miles. They bought anything and
everything that any wag suggested, and there were plenty of wags on
hand. The less they knew the more they talked; and experienced caravan
travelers shook their heads at sight of them, recognizing in them the
most prolific and hardest working trouble-makers in the whole, long
wagon train. Here and there an invalid was seen, hoping that the long
trip in the open would restore health, and in many cases the hopes
became realizations.

Joseph Cooper installed his niece in the best hotel the town afforded
and went off to see about his wagons and goods, while Tom Boyd hurried
to a trapper's retreat to find his partner and his friends. The retreat
was crowded with frontiersmen and traders, among whom he recognized
many acquaintances. He no sooner had entered the place than he was
soundly slapped on the shoulder and turned to exchange grins with his
best friend, Hank Marshall, who forthwith led him to a corner where a
small group was seated around a table, and where he found Jim Ogden and
Zeb Houghton, two trapper friends of his who were going out to Bent's
trading post on the Arkansas; Enoch Birdsall and Alonzo Webb, two
veteran traders, and several others who would be identified with the
next caravan to leave.

"Thar's one