erwards saw the horse I had
traded for the mule in Sacramento, hitched to a dray. His owner valued
him at four hundred dollars.

We had gone into camp close to the Indians, right among their wigwams,
in fact, and, though it was Independence eve, the weather was cool and
chilling, which, together with the jabbering and grunting of the Indians
and their papooses, made sleeping almost impossible.

We had not been in camp more than an hour when three or four packers
rode up on their way to the "States." They were the first persons
travelling eastward that we had met since leaving the Missouri River.
One of the men had been wounded with a charge of buckshot a few hours
before, and there being no surgeon present, some of us held him while
others picked out the shot and dressed his wounds.

Soda Springs was in the extreme eastern part of what is now the State of
Idaho, at which point there is a town bearing the same name, Soda
Springs. Indeed, the 4th of July found us in a settlement of springs,
Beer Spring and Steamboat Spring being in close proximity to Soda
Springs. Beer Spring is barrel-shaped, its surface about level with the
ground surface. It was always full to the top, and we could look down
into the water at least twenty feet and see large bubbles that were
constantly rising, a few feet apart, one chasing another to the surface,
where they immediately collapsed. The peculiarity of the water was that
one could sip down a gallon at a time without any inconvenience. The
celebrated Steamboat Spring came out of a hole in a level rock. The
water was quite hot, and the steam, puffing out at regular intervals,
presented an interesting sight.

We remained in camp during the forenoon and celebrated the 4th of July
as best we could. I am quite positive that we could not have repeated in
concert the memorable words which open this chapter, but, while the
letter of the injunction was absent, the spirit was with us and we
carried it out in considerable detail, the Indians joining with us. We
shot at a mark, we ran horse-races with the Indians and also foot-races.
We had no bells to ring, but we had plenty of noise and games and
sports. We had no flag to unfurl, but its sentiment was within us; and
when we had finished we were prouder than ever to be Americans.

After dinner we packed up and started out again, our trail leading us up
in the top of the mountains, where, after going into camp for the night,
it began to snow, so I