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in Summer on the Plains - in Winter on the Indians are never troublesome received? int he skirmish a wound from an Indian bullet in the back of his left hand. The bullet passed through shattering the bone. The hole remains as a memento of the day. Such are the kinds of persons one meets in a coach on the Plains; & such is the way in which they while away the time. On my return from the Rocky Mountains we found a Californian waiting for the train at North Platte. He had just come over the Sierra Nevada & Rocky Mountain ranges in a sleigh in [[ ]]-Winter. For the greater part of the way he had been alone. One of his feet was frost-bitten. He was a little man, but appeared capable of doing anything, & of going through a great deal. His eye was quick, & very unlike that of men bred in towns, or quiet farms. At this very point [[]] [[]] year ago he had tried to carry his wagon across the Platte when the waters were[[]] & the river 10 miles wide; but having failed in the attempt he had gone up the stream till he headed the [[]]. His rifle was never out of his hand. I asked him, seeing that the barrel was somewhat short, at what distance it wd kill an antelope? "It was not made," he said, "for antelope hunting, but it wd kill one at eight hundred yards. It was the rifle used against the Indians. It was a sixteen-shooter." I asked him, if it had ever been used in that way? "Yes", he said, "a few years ago the Indians were very troublesome, & thirty of us went out after thembwith their sixteen shooters. They came on toward us. There were 400 of them, all mounted?. At the first volley, we fired, many of