Manuscript Page 3

A few months after the "Surprised Indian" incident, the rancher found it necessary to go to the distant settlement again to pick up a load of lumber. He would take a heavy wagon pulled by a team of mules and he expected to be away about three weeks. Before departing on the trip he gave his wife one of the cap and ball pistols which had saved his life earlier.

The wife was accustomed to being alone from time to time but this time she was uneasy about it. She had trouble settling down to do the chores that needed constant attention. Sometime after dark she heard a noise near the corrals and realized that Indians were after the horses. Taking the cap and ball pistol she began watching through port holes expecting an assault on the house. In trying to peer through one port hole she realized that an Indian was trying to look in from the outside. She instantly raised the pistol and fired through the port hole. There was no further activity during the night and at daylight she discovered that some of the horses had been stolen and that there were splotches of blood around the port hole through which she had fired on the previous evening.

Not a great deal of detail is available concerning this woman. We know that she had children and that they survived a number of Indian raids. As for her husband, it is known that he reached the settlement and started back to the ranch with his load of lumber. He never reached the ranch and no trace of him was ever found. He, the mules, wagon, lumber and camping gear completely disappeared. Apparently the Indians had found a way to prevail over the new cap and ball weapon which was so devastating in its early use.