

X. Doc. No. 41. 535 



.one should die?"' But I determined not to leave the poor fellc.T^y 

 •without^ certain provision for his safety. We were off from the 

 usually travelled roadj it was necessary that we should return to 

 it. Once I thought of remaining until I could receive mules front 

 Fort Leavenworthj but in bringing them to me they would again be 

 liable to be stolen by the Indians. '^ 



Near our camp we found two broken down oxen. W.e hitched 

 them to one of the wagons, and with the help of the men we moved 

 1o a spot that would be easily defended, and where we would be 

 sheltered from any storm that might come. 



February 7, — I now determined to proceed at any rate, depend- 

 ing on the resources which yet remained to me, without involving 

 myself with new uncertainties. 



I again sent out a party to reconnoitre the country, wishing ^^to 

 make assurance doubly sure.'' It w^s hard to believe that our evil 

 stars had been so dominant; not a trace^of the lost mules could be 

 seen, for the little spots of snow which yesterday bore their ves- 

 tiges had to-day melted away, 



But nothing annoyed me more than the idea of losing my vari- 

 ous specimens, which had already cost so much time, labor, antl* 

 •anxiety. 



At last I determined to destroy one of the wagons, and to throw 

 ^way everything that we could possibly dispense with, and then to 

 put ourselves into the traces and drag the lightest wagon as far as 

 Pav;nec fork; there I should leave the sick man, with some persons 

 to take care of him, and the rest of the party would pack their 

 provisions and bedding on their hackstand start for the settlements. 

 February 8. — We begun our preparations; the warm clothing 

 that we had brought to protect us from the rigors of winter was 

 thrown away. The men destroyed their buffalo robes, retaining- 

 <3nly one for every two men of the party. I parted my wardrobe 

 amongst my men, and no one reserved any apparel, except that 

 ^hich he had on his back; everything was now disposed of except 

 <jnr powder and lead and our provisions. 



We now drove up the two steers which fortune had thrown in 



[ our way; we fed them bountifully with the corn we had treasured 

 ^P so carefully. Having found that the oxen could not work inr 



'mule harness, we manufactured a yoke, by driving into a bar twa 

 pieces of vood; these pieces were in pairs and had hol^3 in the ends, 

 so that cords being passed through the holes, they M^e'e tied under 

 the throats of the^'oxen. A long rope was attach^l^ t^ \Ve tongue 

 of the wagon, and the men formed loops of i^opes otsfTncoleS whicti 

 ^^^ey passed over their shoulders, and then attached at 

 «■ long rope which was fastened to the end of the ton^^ue. 



We now started amid the loud exulting cheers of the men, as- 

 tKey thus triumphed over our difficulties, when we seemed to have 

 reached the '*' ne plus ultra" of misfortune. To have seen us, one 

 'Would have thought that we were on some lively frolic, whereas 

 yre had undertaken to haul a loaded wagon from Jackson's grove- 



. to Pawnee fork, which is a distance of 64 miles by the nver route^ 

 the one which we pursued. 



imt 



