It was evening, and some one came to our door, spoke to Elitha and
Leanna in low tones and went away. My sisters turned, put their arms
about us and wept bitterly. Then, gently, compassionately, the cruel,
desolating truth was told. Ah, how could we believe it? No anxious
watching, no weary waiting would ever bring father and mother to us
again!

[Footnote 13: Thornton.]

CHAPTER XVII

ORPHANS--KESEBERG AND HIS ACCUSERS--SENSATIONAL ACCOUNTS OF THE TRAGEDY
AT DONNER LAKE--PROPERTY SOLD AND GUARDIAN APPOINTED--KINDLY
INDIANS--"GRANDPA"--MARRIAGE OF ELITHA.

The report of our affliction spread rapidly, and the well-meaning,
tender-hearted women at the Fort came to condole and weep with us, and
made their children weep also by urging, "Now, do say something
comforting to these poor little girls, who were frozen and starved up
in the mountains, and are now orphans in a strange land, without any
home or any one to care for them."

Such ordeals were too overwhelming. I would rush off alone among the
wild flowers to get away from the torturing sympathy. Even there, I met
those who would look at me with great serious eyes, shake their heads,
and mournfully say, "You poor little mite, how much better it would be
if you had died in the mountains with your dear mother, instead of
being left alone to struggle in this wicked world!"

This would but increase my distress, for I did not want to be dead and
buried up there under the cold, deep snow, and I knew that mother did
not want me to be there either. Had she not sent me away to save me,
and asked God, our Heavenly Father, to take care of me?

Intense excitement and indignation prevailed at the Fort after Captain
Fallon and other members of his party gave their account of the
conditions found at the mountain camps, and of interviews had with
Keseberg, whom they now called, "cannibal, robber, and murderer." The
wretched man was accused by this party, not only of having needlessly
partaken of human flesh, and of having appropriated coin and other
property which should have come to us orphaned children, but also of
having wantonly taken the life of Mrs. Murphy and of my mother.

Some declared him crazy, others called him a monster. Keseberg denied
these charges and repeatedly accused Fallon and his party of making
false statements. He sadly acknowledged that he had used human flesh to
keep himself from starving, but swore that he was guiltless of taking
human lif