very graphic manner, and for a long time afterwards I was considerable of
a hero. The reporter who had thus set me up, as I then thought, on the
highest pinnacle of fame, was John Hutchinson, and I felt very grateful
to him. He now lives in Wichita, Kansas.

CHAPTER V.

IN BUSINESS.

In the summer of 1857, Russell, Majors & Waddell were sending a great
many trains across the plains to Salt Lake with supplies for General
Johnston's army. Men were in great demand, and the company was paying
teamsters forty dollars per month in gold. An old and reliable
wagon-master, named Lewis Simpson--who had taken a great fancy to me, and
who, by the way, was one of the best wagon-masters that ever ran a bull
train--was loading a train for the company, and was about to start out
with it for Salt Lake. He asked me to go along as an "extra hand." The
high wages that were being paid were a great inducement to me, and the
position of an "extra hand" was a pleasant one. All that I would have to
do would be to take the place of any man who became sick, and drive his
wagon until he recovered. I would have my own mule to ride, and to a
certain extent I would be a minor boss.

My mother was very much opposed to my taking this long trip, as I would
be absent nearly a year, and there was a possibility that something
might arise to prevent me from ever coming back, as we could not often
tell how the Mormon difficulty would terminate. Then again, owing to the
Indians, a journey over the plains in those days was a perilous
undertaking. She said that as I had recently returned from the plains,
and had had a narrow escape from death at the hands of the Indians, she
did not want me to risk my life a second time. I told her that inasmuch
as I had determined to follow the plains for an occupation, nothing
could now stop me from going on this trip, and if it became necessary I
would run away.

Seeing that it was impossible to keep me at home, she reluctantly gave
her consent, but not until she had called upon Mr. Russell and Mr.
Simpson in regard to the matter, and had obtained from the latter
gentleman his promise that I should be well taken care of, if we had to
winter in the mountains. She did not like the appearance of Simpson, and
upon inquiry she learned, to her dismay, that he was a desperate
character, and that on nearly every trip he had made across the plains he
had killed some one. Such a man, she thought, was not a fit master or