Then we rode down the other side of the ridge, among stunted cedartrees which looked as if they were dying from lack of water, and EbenJordan came past our wagon to say we had come upon Captain Fremont'strail.
The fact that we were to follow in the footsteps of other human beingsgave me more courage and caused Ellen to appear almost cheerful.
We crossed a valley where nothing was growing save wild sage, and thenover rocky ridges which looked much like masses of dark green glass,through a narrow gap which might have been cut by the hand of man inthe solid ledge, after which we saw spread out before us that vastdesert plain, white as a sea of milk and most desolate and forbiddingin appearance.
A PLAIN OF SALT
Not a vestige of any green thing could be seen within our range ofvision. No bird was flying, and the silence was so like the silenceof the tomb that I did not dare to speak aloud while calling mother'sattention to this thing or that, when we halted for a short time.
This was the last stop we would make, save in case of accident. Some ofthe animals ate the bread, others refused it, and then I saw what wouldhave been, under other circumstances, a comical sight, for the men weregoing about with wet cloths moistening the mouths of the oxen.
After spending nearly an hour in making the final preparations, wordwas given for the train to set off. Instead of being like milk, wefound that the desert was made up of a bluish clay, covered here andthere in blotches with what was much like salt, and these white spotswere so large and numerous as to give to the whole the appearance ofmilky white when seen from the distance.
The oxen sank fetlock-deep, and as we advanced there were times whenthey broke through what was like a crust, even to their very knees;therefore one can well fancy that the wheels plowed into this yieldingsurface until it was quite as much as the cattle could do to pull thewagons along.
LIKE A SEA OF FROZEN MILK
If all the way had been as difficult as the start, we might never havegained the other side; but as we advanced the surface grew harder andharder, until finally even the shoes of the horses failed to make anyimpression upon it. Then I heard father say, as he came back from timeto time to speak with mother, that it appeared to him as if we weretraveling over a solid crust of salt.
At the end of an hour, perhaps, we came upon what Ellen called another"soft spot," and for a distance of two or three miles the oxen strainedand tugged at the yokes as they barely succeeded in drawing the wagonsat a snail's pace.
Then we girls had most terrible forebodings, for it seemed certain wecould never hope to cross that place before all the company had diedfrom thirst.
To our great relief as well as the relief of the cattle, we came upona hard surface once more, and the oxen were urged to their utmost speedin order to make up for the time we had lost while toiling through thesalty dust.
There was no halting for dinner. Now and then we ate the corn bread,for with such terrible anxiety in our hearts none of us were consciousof hunger; but again and again and again did we sip the cold coffee,using it sparingly, however.
SALT DUST
It was nearly ten o'clock in the forenoon when a dark cloud began togather in the south, and I said to mother, with great joy, that wewould at least know the pleasure of being wet, even though we could notget all we wanted to drink, for surely there was a shower close uponus.
Indeed, we did have wind, with thunder and lightning, but not a dropof water fell. On the contrary, the breeze stirred up the dust from theplain and filled the air with it, and our parched throats grew yet moredry because of the salt which we were forced to inhale, even though wecovered our faces with cloths.
How the poor beasts suffered! Their tongues were actually covered withsalt, and not a mouthful of water could they have as a relief fromtheir distress.
Save for the absence of rain, it was a veritable tempest of thunderand lightning, lasting about twenty minutes; then the sun came outwith more heat, as it seemed to me, than before, which but served toincrease our desire for water.
When the sun was no more than three hours from setting, I strained myeyes ahead, hoping to see the end of this horrible journey, althoughmother had told me there was no possibility of our coming to wateruntil late in the night, and I saw the foremost of the wagons leavingthe white plain, and passing over what promised to be a good road,toward a rocky range.
Then I shouted aloud in my joy, that we would soon come to where itwould be possible to quench our thirst.
A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT
For the moment mother believed I was right, but then Eben Jordandampened our joy by telling us that we must ride over the ridge five orsix miles, where were no signs of water, and then we would come uponanother plain of salt, which was not less than twelve miles in width.Only after that had been crossed might we find ourselves in safety.
Ellen threw herself face downward upon the bed in the bottom of thewagon, and lay there as if in a fit of the sulks, while I crouched bymother's side, wondering how long it would be before death came, for Ihad grown so foolish in my sufferings that it was as if life was nearlyat an end.
COFFEE INSTEAD OF WATER
Mother left us to ourselves during half an hour or more, and then toldus plainly that we were showing ourselves to be very foolish girls.She insisted that we eat the harder portions of the corn bread; that wetake frequent drinks of the coffee, and, above all, that we resolutelycalm our minds.
It must have been that amid all my distress I fell asleep, for suddenlyI heard, as though coming from afar off, shouts of joy and the voicesof men calling one to another.
Starting up, I asked mother what was happening, and gazed aroundwildly, for night had come and the moon was not yet risen.
"Thank God! the desert has been crossed, and we have come at last towhere water may be obtained!" my mother cried fervently.
She leaped out of the wagon, we two girls following, and, runninghurriedly, we went to where the men, boys, and animals had gathered ina group.
I believed we had come to a stream of sweet water, but it was only anarrow brook, where ran hardly more than a thread of water which hadalready been trampled upon by the animals until it was like liquid mud.
A SPRING OF SWEET WATER
At this moment Eben Jordan, taking Ellen and me by the hands, said,forcing us to run with him:--
"By following the stream to its head we shall surely come upon aspring."
And this we did, finding within two hundred yards a spring of thesweetest water I have ever taken into my mouth.
Ellen and I drank again and again, seemingly never to be satisfied, andit was only after I had shown myself very selfish that I rememberedpoor mother, who, most likely, was standing by that muddy streamwaiting until the water had grown clear so she might drink.
Then Eben Jordan went back, and a few moments later returned, bringingwith him all the women and children, and many of the men.
Having drunk our fill, Ellen and I went back to the wagon, where weate heartily of corn bread, and then laid ourselves down to sleep,while the men and boys were bringing the teams into a circle to form acorral.
THE OASIS
After this we remained idle thirty-six hours, being forced to do so, asfather said, because the animals were so nearly exhausted that a longtime of rest was absolutely necessary.
It was during this time that Eben Jordan again displayed his skill asa hunter, for toward nightfall he brought in two small antelopes; butthe animals were so tiny that each family had no more than half enoughto satisfy their craving for fresh meat, and we were forced to completethe meal with bacon.
Our halting place was on what can be described only as an oasis,stretching from that sea of white to the rocky cliffs beyond, andfather told us that while we would not be forced to march over a plainof salt during the next day, the journey would be exceedingly wearisomeand our suffering considerable, for a
nother entire day must be spentwithout water.
Again we made preparations for a time of distress, by boiling morecoffee and filling up the water casks with sweet water from the spring.
This time the anticipation was worse than the reality. On resuming themarch, we traveled over the side of the barren ridge more than twelvemiles, until we came to a well-defined wagon trail which, so some ofour people said, had first been made by emigrants from Missouri.
I gave little heed as to who might first have passed over the trail,rejoicing with Ellen that at last we had come to some evidence of humanbeings; it seemed as if our troubles were well-nigh at an end, for wewere told that this trail would lead us by the most direct course intothat land of California where we hoped to find rest and comfort.
SEARCHING FOR WATER
From this on, during four wearisome days, we were kept upon a shortallowance of water, and did not dare eat much food lest it shouldunduly excite our thirst.
Now and then we came upon a spring, when our water casks and everyvessel that could be used for the purpose were filled to the brim, andyet again and again we suffered from thirst, but not so keenly as whilecrossing the desert.
Whenever I slept, it was to dream of the river we had left behind us onthe border of Pike County, wishing that it might be possible for me togo to its banks once more, and, even though the water was muddy, drinkmy fill.
In due time we came to that point in the trail where we were forced tomarch directly over the face of the mountains. Here our fathers foundthe way so difficult that once more the teams were doubled up, twelveor fifteen yoke of cattle being put on one wagon, and, after haulingthe heavy load to the summit of the range, driven back to get another.
Of course our progress was slow, and we traversed mile after mile onlywith severe labor on the part of the men and boys, for we girls and thewomen did no more than walk in order to lessen the load.
Then we came to a narrow passage amid the rocks, which was mostfrightful to look upon, although there was nothing whatever about it tocause alarm.
It was a gorge or canyon much like a tunnel, where the light fromabove was like a slender silver thread, and we went down into a narrowdefile, where was barely room for the wagons to pass, and where therocks, dark and fearsome, rose hundreds of feet above our heads.
THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY
When we had passed through that forbidding place we received ourreward, for we came into a most beautiful valley with water and grassin abundance, and, although it was yet early in the afternoon, therewas no thought of anything save making camp, that we might enjoy theblessings which were spread out before us.
Before the sun had set Eben Jordan had killed another antelope; but hedid not dare go far from the encampment in search of other game, for nosooner had twilight come than we could hear the howling of the wolvesaround us, until one's very blood ran cold. It seemed certain, andindeed was a fact, that we were literally surrounded by those ravenousanimals, which were kept at a respectful distance only by the glare ofour camp fires.
Next day, when we took up the line of march again, it was the same oldstory of climbing over rocky ridges and descending into valleys wherecould be found no signs of vegetation, until we had come to a verynetwork of streams.
At our next camp we were visited by a party of Snake Indians, who, likethe other savages we had seen, pressed around us, begging for bits ofbread.
SNAKE INDIANS
Those Indians were not at all like any we had seen before; theirclothing, what little there was of it, consisted mostly of rabbitskins sewed together to form cloaks. To my mind they resembled more theNegroes than the Indians; but father said, save for their inclinationto steal anything upon which they could lay their hands, that we needhave no fear whatever regarding them, because they were known to bepeaceable. The men were armed only with bows and arrows and seemed tohave great fear of a gun or a pistol.
The visitors had with them a quantity of dried meat and roots whichthey wanted to trade with us for bread or for blankets; but our storeof provisions was not so low that we would willingly eat what thosecreatures had prepared.
They lingered around the encampment, however, coming as closely to thewagons as our people would permit, and we girls and boys were told tokeep careful watch lest they steal all our possessions.
Just at sunset, one of the men who was standing guard over the cowsshouted that a wild beast was creeping up on us from a thicket a shortdistance away, to the right of where father's wagon stood.
Looking up quickly, I saw a huge panther crawling, as you might say,much as a cat approaches a mouse, and it seemed to me that he wasmaking ready to spring directly upon us girls.
Ellen and I clambered shrieking into the wagon, where we hid our headsin a feather bed like the silly children we were, and straightway thereensued the greatest tumult that can be imagined, as our hunters stroveto kill the ferocious animal.
It is, perhaps, needless for me to say that the panther escaped,although Eben Jordan claimed it would have been possible for him tokill the beast, had he not been hampered by frightened girls and men.
A SCARCITY OF FOOD
When the march was taken up once more, we journeyed over a lessforbidding, although a not very pleasant, country, seeing antelopes ata distance, but so wild that even Eben Jordan strove in vain to bringone down.
During four or five days we marched westward, seeing now and then greatnumbers of animals which would have served to provide us with freshmeat, but our men were unable to kill any; then we found our supply offood growing so small that it was decided each person should have at asingle meal no more than one slice of bacon and a piece of corn breadas big as a man's hand.
There is no good reason why I should set down such mournful details.While we were pressing steadily but painfully westward, so hungrythat it seemed to me I could have eaten anything resembling food, andthirsty until my tongue was parched, the rays of the sun beat down uponus with pitiless fury, until we were so worn that life seemed at timeslike some frightful dream.
I can remember distinctly, however, what happened on that day whenwe heard those who were leading the train, shout that we had comeupon water in abundance. When Ellen and I, leaping out of the wagon,ran forward, we saw before us several large springs from which thewater was bubbling generously. Our delight was even as great as thedisappointment was bitter, when the water was found to be almostboiling hot.
SPRINGS OF HOT WATER
It seems hardly possible that any liquid could come out of the earth sowarm, and if I had never left Pike County I would have set down such atale as a fable; but we did find boiling water, so hot that when EbenJordan let down into one of those springs a slice of bacon tied to astring, it was well boiled in less than fifteen minutes.
However, we were not to be deprived of water even though it was hot,for father proposed that we fill some of our cups, declaring it wouldbe sweet to the taste once it was cool.
This we did not only once, but three or four times, during thecontinuation of the march, for we came upon many of those hot springson the trail after we left the banks of Mary's River.
Then came a day in August when, after an unusually wearisome march, wesuddenly overtook two emigrant wagons in which were fourteen people whohad come from Missouri.
Verily it seemed as if old friends were meeting, for as our traincame in sight, some of the strangers began to sing, "My name it is JoeBowers," and however weary I had once been of hearing that tune, it nowsounded in my ears like music.
That evening we spent visiting; those people, like ourselves, weretraveling toward the land of California, and only those who have beenjourneying in the desert and through the wilderness, without meetingany human beings save Indians, can understand how intent was thepleasure we experienced in being with our own kind again.
The emigrants decided to join our train, and we were right glad to havethem with us, although th
eir store of provisions was no greater thanours; but all were put on what father called "short allowance," whichwas to each person two slices of bacon and two pieces of bread duringone entire day. All our men who had guns were continually searching forgame; but while we could see antelope and even wild fowl, both beastsand birds were so shy that the best hunters among us could not getwithin gunshot.
IN THE LAND OF PLENTY
And so we traveled on, hungry, thirsty, and weary, despairing now andthen of ever coming again into a land of plenty, until we arrived atthe Truckee River, which was more beautiful to my eyes than ever hadbeen the broad Mississippi.
The waters of the river were clear as crystal and very cool, whilefrom it our people took within an hour a sufficient number of trout tosatisfy the hunger of all. It seemed necessary we should eat until itwas absolutely impossible to swallow more, in order to atone in someway for the hunger that had pressed so sorely upon us during the tendays previous.
Eben Jordan said laughingly that we were much like the savages, whowere starved one day and in danger of bursting with food the next.
THE TRUCKEE RIVER
It pleased me right well when father said that we were to remain incamp one full day by the side of this river, in order to give theanimals the opportunity of feeding upon the rich grass which grew inabundance on every hand.