up to it, and, putting down my hand,
found a fountain of cool bright water issuing forth. I shouted to my
companions, who quickly joined me. Never was nectar drank with more
delight; and, revived and strengthened, we again pushed on.

Sometimes we slept in caverns, sometimes in huts built of clods and
boughs. Frequently we had to camp on the bare ground, without shelter,
our feet as close to the fire as we could venture to place them without
running the risk of their being scorched.

At last, to our great joy, we saw the western plains stretching out
before us. I call them the plains, although hills of all heights rose in
their midst. Far away to the south-west was the great Salt Lake; while
in front of us were the mountainous regions bordering the
Pacific,--California and its newly-discovered gold-mines. Now descending
steep slopes, now traversing gorges, now climbing down precipices, now
following the course of a rapid stream, we ultimately reached level
ground, and at last arrived at Fort Harwood.

"Why, Broadstreet, my dear fellow!" exclaimed the commandant, who, with
a number of other officers, came out on seeing us approach, "we had
given you up as lost! Some emigrants who escaped from a train which was
attacked reported that every white man on the other side of the pass,
for miles to the southward, had been murdered. They had heard, also,
that an officer and his men had been cut off, so we naturally concluded
you were the unhappy individual."

"Such would have been our fate, if we had attempted to get through the
pass; but, guided by my friend here, we crossed the mountain, for the
purpose of asking you to send a force of sufficient strength to drive
back the Indians, with their rascally white allies," answered the
lieutenant.

"The very thing I purposed doing, if I could obtain a trustworthy
guide," said the commandant.

"You could not have a more trustworthy one than my friend, Ralph
Middlemore," answered Manley. "He knows the mountains better than any
white man we are likely to find; and as for Indians, I would not put
confidence in one of them."

Of course, I at once expressed my willingness to undertake the duty
proposed; and the expedition was speedily arranged. Our troops may not
have had a very military appearance, but the men knew how to handle
their rifles, and had had experience in border warfare. We numbered
fifty in all, besides the drivers of the baggage horses and mules
conveying our prov