194 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 



They made but a few miles that evening, for the first 

 day the start is all that is effected ; and nearly the whole 

 morning is taken up in getting fairly under weigh. The 

 loose stock had been sent off earlier, for they had been 

 collected and corralled the previous night ; and, after a 

 twelve hours' fast, it was necessary they should reach the 

 end of the day's journey betimes. They found the herd 

 grazing in the bottom of the Arkansa, at a point previously 

 fixed upon for their first camp. Here the oxen were un- 

 yoked, and the waggons drawn up so as to form the three 

 sides of a small square. The women then descended from 

 their seats, and prepared the evening meal. A huge fire 

 was kindled before the waggons, and round this the whole 

 party collected ; whilst large kettles of coffee boiled on it, 

 and hoe-cakes baked upon the embers. 



The women were sadly down-hearted, as well they might 

 be, with the dreary prospect before them ; and poor Mary, 

 when she saw the Mormon encampment shut out from her 

 sight by the rolling bluffs, and nothing before her but the 

 bleak barren prairie, could not divest herself of the idea 

 that she had looked for the last time on civilised fellow- 

 creatures, and fairly burst into tears. 



In the morning the heavy waggons rolled on again across 

 the upland prairies, to strike the trail used by the traders 

 in passing from the south fork of the Platte to the Arkansa. 

 They had for guide a Canadian voyageur, who had been 

 in the service of the Indian traders, and knew the route 

 well, and who had agreed to pilot them to Fort Lancaster, 

 on the north fork of the Platte. Their course led for about 

 thirty miles up the Boiling Spring River, whence they pur- 

 sued a north-easterly course to the dividing ridge which 

 separates the waters of the Platte and Arkansa. Their 

 progress w r as slow, for the ground was saturated with wet, 

 and exceedingly heavy for the cattle, and they scarcely 

 advanced more than ten miles a-day. 



At the camp-fire at night, Antoine, the Canadian guide, 

 amused them with tales of the wild life and perilous 

 adventures of the hunters and trappers who make the moun- 

 tains their home ; often extorting a scream from the women 



