But one night there was a terrific thunderstorm, such as they have in Colorado, and in the morning it was found that the strikers had been busy; for they had cut off the rubber hose connections of the air-brakes from every car, while our noble guards were hunting cover from the rain. These guards were a queer conglomeration, and had the greatest assortment of weapons I ever saw—from the 32-calibre bulldog to the 45-calibre frontier sixshooter with its 7-inch barrel, from the sawed-off double-barrelled shot-gun to the latest thing in pump-guns. Most of the men were college students out for excitement, and glad to earn something at the same time during the long vacation; but there was a sprinkling of Western gun-men amongst them. At Trinidad, a little farther down the line, the strikers turned some loaded coal-cars loose down the long incline through the tunnel. Luckily, the railroad officials got wind of it, and were able to throw a switch and ditch the runaway cars before they had a chance to crash into the passenger trains which were held up there. When news of this reached La Junta, 150 deputy marshals were put aboard a train and run down to Trinidad, officials acting as firemen and engineer. They were a noble band of bad-men when they started out, telling us what they would do to the strikers; but it was a sorry-looking crew that returned next morning minus their guns. The strikers at Trinidad had got news of their coming, and, reinforced by some miners from Cripple Creek, they, some 2000 strong, surrounded the train of deputies when it arrived, disarmed them, but allowed them to return to La Junta unhurt. If there had not been a sprinkling of older heads amongst the deputies, who had sense enough to know that they had bitten off more than they could chew, there would have been some shooting, and probably a massacre. This victory, however, was the finish of the fight in Colorado; for when it was discovered that deputy marshals could not handle the situation and give the necessary protection to the mails, two companies of United States regulars were sent down from Denver to La Junta, and from there we all moved on together to Trinidad, where, after a delay of one day, we went on through to our destinations, and the strike was broken.