So dangerous had it become to drive the mountain passes, as several drivers had been shot, the company found it difficult to get men to carry the stages through, and offered double wages to any one who had the courage to drive over the road-agents dominions.
Buffalo Billy at once volunteered for the perilous work, and his first trip through he met with no resistance.
The next he was halted, and promptly obeying the order to throw up his hands, he was not molested, though the gold-box was taken from the coach, and all the passengers were robbed.
After this it was almost a daily occurrence for the road-agents to rob a stage-coach, and the Overland Company offered a reward of five thousand dollars for the capture of their chief and the band.
One day Billy drove away from the station with a coach full of women, not a single man having the pluck to go, and promptly, at their favorite place, the road-agents appeared.
"Halt! up with your hands!"
With military promptitude Buffalo Billy obeyed, and putting on the California brakes, he drew his horses to a stand-still.
"Well, what have you got to-day that's worthy our picking, my Boy Driver?" said the road-agent leader approaching the coach.
"Only women, and I beg you not to be brute enough to scare 'em," said Billy.
"Oh! they must pay toll; and they generally have good watches; but what is it, a woman's rights meeting, or a Seminary broke loose?'