212 
KANSAS. 
in advance of us. One or two teams had just crossed, and one 
was then going down the bank, while the last one was waiting, and 
we drove in ahead to be ready for the next passage. There was a 
bridge over the water when at its usual height, but this rise had 
covered the bridge, and everything by which we could tell its 
actual position. 
The heavy wagon of the emigrants struck the bridge a little 
too far on the right, and the wheels slid off into the water. The 
danger at this time was that the wagon would be upset into the 
creek. We could not pass it, and must wait just where we were, 
half down the winding bank, a high ledge on one side of us, 
and a miniature precipice on the other, where old dead branches 
of trees abounded. The driver of the wagon took off all the oxen 
save one yoke, and he cudgelled them in a manner, which the 
ancient text, “ The righteous man is merciful to his beast,” proved 
him to be entirely lacking in the kindly element, but not one step 
did the poor cattle stir. 
A half hour passed away. The other yokes were put on again. 
The man stood on the lower side, in the water, and attempted to 
steady the wheels; but the oxen did not pull. The wagon was a 
fixture directly on this highway between Lawrence and Topeka. 
The oxen seemed unused to the yoke, and the teamsters equally 
new in driving them, and the question of our getting to Topeka 
began to grow serious. At last the oxen were taken from the 
front of the wagon, and placed on the other end ; also some other 
cattle were taken from the wagon on the road, making ten yokes 
in all. The attempt to start the wagon backward was now to be 
made, and we were directly in the way. Our carriage was driven 
as far out on the edge of the bank as it could stand, leaving just 
room enough for the oxen and wagon to pass out by the side of 
us, if they behaved well, and with a laudable regard for other 
people’s rights, made no encroachments upon ours. Mrs. S. seemed 
to have a doubt of their doing so, and with the gentlemen left the 
carriage, and me all alone in it. Mr. F., however, was not far 
away. Doctor at last took the whip, and tried his skill at driving 
the patient creatures. Another, with whip in hand, which he 
brandished with amazing dignity, stood between them and the 
