t day in finding a
splendid road for some distance, until we were all at once brought up
standing on a high table-land, overlooking a beautiful winding creek that
lay far below us in the valley. The question that troubled us, was, how
we were to get the wagons down. We were now in the foot-hills of the
Rattoon Mountains, and the bluff we were on was very steep.

"Cody, we're in a nice fix now," said General Carr.

"Oh, that's nothing," was my reply.

"But you can never take the train down," said he.

"Never you mind the train, General. You say you are looking for a good
camp. How does that beautiful spot down in the valley suit you?" I
asked him.

"That will do. I can easily descend with the cavalry, but how to get the
wagons down there is a puzzler to me," said he.

"By the time you've located your camp, your wagons shall be
there," said I.

"All right, Cody, I'll leave it to you, as you seem to want to be boss,"
replied he pleasantly. He at once ordered the command to dismount and
lead the horses down the mountain-side. The wagon train was a mile in the
rear, and when it came up, one of the drivers asked: "How are we going
down there?"

"Run down, slide down or fall down--any way to get down," said I.

"We never can do it; it's too steep; the wagons will run over the mules,"
said another wagon-master.

"I guess not; the mules have got to keep out of the way," was my reply.

Telling Wilson, the chief wagon-master, to bring on his mess-wagon, which
was at the head of the train, I said I would try the experiment at least.
Wilson drove the team and wagon to the brink of the hill, and following
my directions he brought out some extra chains with which we locked both
wheels on each side, and then rough-locked them. We then started the
wagon down the hill. The wheel-horses--or rather the wheel-mules--were
good on the hold-back, and we got along finely until we nearly reached
the bottom, when the wagon crowded the mules so hard that they started on
a run and galloped down into the valley and to the place where General
Carr had located his camp. Three other wagons immediately followed in the
same way, and in half an hour every wagon was in camp, without the least
accident having occurred. It was indeed an exciting sight to see the
six-mule teams come straight down the mountain and finally break into a
full run. At times it looked as if the wagons would turn a somersault and
land on the mules.

This proved to be