178 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



would have gone still more hungry than he was to have 

 comforted his four-footed companion. The rest of the men 

 watched them like beasts of prey, and would have knocked 

 the man over and re-killed the dog on the least extra prov- 

 ocation. I expected the last would happen, but the watch- 

 fulness of Bently prevented it, and the dog went with us to 

 San Bernardino. What afterwards became of the devoted 

 twain I do not know. Both were worthless, and their Ish- 

 maelitish life seemed to bind them together closer and closer. 

 I hope if the soldiers ever got the man, his faithful dog bore 

 him company. The episode of Bently and his dog I will ever 

 remember. 



Our route now lay in a westerly direction along the sunken 

 waters of the Mojave. The scenery was uninteresting, as 

 nothing met our gaze save the sandy valley with its barren, 

 rugged boundaries of rocky hills, and the narrow belt of 

 timber traversing it. On the 16th we came in sight of the 

 long-wished-for Sierra Nevada, whose eternally snow-clad 

 summits had loomed up before me ever since I left Salt Lake 

 City. We at last came to where the river flows above the 

 surface of the valley. It was here two rods wide and as many 

 feet in depth. Shortly after nightfall we camped by a little 

 grocery, the first inhabited house we had seen since leaving 

 the Mormon settlement, four hundred miles distant. Here a 

 portion of our company left us on foot for the next settlement, 

 which was thirty miles further on, going by a near cut across 

 the mountains which the wagons could not travel. These 

 individuals had entirely run out of provisions, and as they 

 could not wait until the caravan reached the settlement, they 

 had formed the design of going on foot in advance of us. It 

 was about 10 o'clock when they left us. We watched the 

 progress of the little band with interest as it waded the river, 

 and at a quick pace plunged into the darkness beyond. They 

 were starting on a dangerous expedition, for the route was 



