CHAPTER, SIXTEEN 
THE JOURNEY FROM BEER SPRING 
TO FORT CROCKET 
E left the Beer Spring on the morning of 
W August 14th. I drank some cups of 
the sparkling water, and bade adieu to 
the place so endeared to me as to an 
old friend that one does not expect to 
7" see again for a long time. Our direc- 
tion was southeastwardly. We ascended the right 
bank of the Bear River for four days, following al- 
most the same road which we had taken through the 
Bear River Valley about a month before, after we had 
crossed the Rocky Mountains; but this time we gen- 
erally kept closer to the river. On the first day we 
were crossing great stretches that had been burnt 
over, and round about us clouds of smoke were still 
ascending from the mountains, as to the meaning of 
which we could not entirely agree. The Indians usu- 
ally light such fires as signals, when they wish to 
collect the scattered bands. So they are often re- 
garded as indications that enemies are in the vicinity, 
