During that afternoon, it was reported in Bannack that a silver lode had been discovered, and Plummer, whose residence in Nevada had given him some reputation as a judge of silver ores, was requested to go out and examine it. Plummer had, on several occasions, been sent for to go out and make minute examinations, and it had never been surmised that his errands on these occasions were different from what they purported to be. This notice to Plummer that a “silver lode” had been discovered, was the signal that the occasion demanded the presence of the chief of the gang, who was needed to head some marauding expedition that required a skillful leader, and promised a rich booty as the reward of success. Plummer always obeyed it, and in this instance, left Bannack a little while after noon, taking a northerly direction, towards Rattlesnake; but, after getting out of town, he changed his course and went south, towards Horse Prairie. Before leaving Bannack, he presented Mr. Hauser with a woolen scarf, telling him that he would “find it useful on the journey these cold nights.” The two gentlemen did not complete their arrangements for starting till half past seven in the evening; and, as they were about leaving Hauser’s cabin, a splash, caused by the fall of some heavy body in the water, and calls for assistance were heard from the brow of the hill, south of Bannack. Upon going to the spot, it was found that Henry Tilden, in attempting to cross the Bannack Ditch, had missed the bridge, and his horse had fallen upon him in the water. On being relieved from his dangerous situation, he went to the house of Judge (now Governor) Edgerton, and reported that he had been robbed by three men--one of whom was Plummer--between Horse Prairie and Bannack. After he had detailed the circumstances, the greatest anxiety was felt for the safety of Messrs. Langford and Hauser, who, it was generally supposed had started at five o’clock on the same road. The unconscious wayfarers, however, knew nothing of the matter, but they were, nevertheless, on the alert all the time. Hauser had that morning communicated to his friend Langford, his suspicion that they were being watched, and would be followed by the road agents, with the intention of plundering them, and while Langford was loading his gun with twelve revolver balls in each barrel, George Dart asked him why he was “filling the gun-barrel so full of lead;” to which Langford replied, that if they had any trouble with the road agents, it would be on that night. So well satisfied were they that an attack upon them, was contemplated, that they carried their guns in their hands, ready cocked, throughout the whole journey to Horse Prairie, a distance of twelve miles, but they saw nothing of the ruffians who robbed young Tilden.