Red Dick and his men decided to remain very near the trail and mount guard all night. They were quite carried away with the prospect.
Very early the following morning Fighting Dan Grey and several gamblers and sporting men, led by an old plainsman, were coming to town. They had heard rumors of an impending Indian uprising, and had seen several bands crossing to the Yellowstone from Flathead Pass. They wanted to know what Bozeman folk had heard.
A short distance outside the town the plainsman noted that a trail of horsemen which he had been following ran into one coming out of Bozeman, and both turned south. He called Fighting Dan’s attention to it, and the latter jumped to the conclusion that one party was made up of Indians, and they were on the trail of some mining party for purposes of robbery.
“S’pose we saunter down thet way an’ see ’f we can’t surprise Mr. Redskin in his funny bus’ness,” suggested Dan.
The entire party veered sharply and cantered toward the hills. As they neared the first ravine where the trail became faint they were surprised to see six men on horseback, leading twice as many mules, coming out. Fighting Dan halted and awaited the approach of Price’s party.
“Seen any Injuns?” asked Dan.
The spokesman of Price’s men feared the presence of this party so near the storehouse, and he hit upon a plan to get rid of them. He answered:
“No; we hain’t seen any sence yistidy. The pesky hoss thieves run off with our mules, an’ we chased ’em so hard they skedaddled into the hills an’ left the mules.”
“Which way’d they go?” asked Dan, feeling this excuse to punish a band of red men was too good to be lost.
“They kep’ south, round the mounting.”