ory was so incredible, that he
never should fight anyone, even if he should tell him he lied when he
related the strange sad truth. He said he had no doubt many a one would
doubt their story, it was so much beyond what people had ever seen or
heard of before, and they might be accused of very strong romancing in
the matter.

They all felt more like talking; for we were thus far safe and sound,
and though there was a desperate struggle of seventy-five miles or more,
from this place to the next water in the foot-hills. Possibly the snow
storms had left a little in some of the pools, but we made no
calculations on any. The promised land we had so steadily been
approaching, and now comparatively so near, gave us great hope, which
was better than food and drink to give us strength.

There were surely two camps between this and the little pond John and I
found, among the Cabbage trees, and not more than six by ten feet
square. As we worked away at our foot-wear we talked more in an hour
than we had in a whole day before. We were slowly leaving Death Valley
behind us with its sad memories and sufferings. We were leaving behind
the dead bodies of several who had traveled with us and been just as
strong and hopeful as we. We had left behind us all in our possession in
that terrible spot, and simply with our lives we hoped to escape, and
trust to Providence and humanity on the other side. Arcane now admitted
that they could not have got along half as well, if we had not gone
ahead and looked out the land. It was such a gain to know exactly where
the next water hole was, so it could be steered for and struggled
toward. He even went so far as to say they would have no chance alone,
and that as he now saw the road, he was sure they have would all
perished even before reaching as far as this. We had strong hopes of the
morrow, when we would be all rested, all were shod, and would make every
footstep count in our western progress.

It seems quite a strange occurrence that the only two storms we had had
since we turned westward on this route, Nov. 4th, were snow storms, and
that both had come while we were asleep, so that all our days were
cloudless. Sometimes the sun was uncomfortably warm even in the heart of
the winter. One would have naturally expected that the great rainfall
all over the California coast in the winter of 1849-50, and the deep
snows that came in the Sierra Nevada mountains the same winter, would
have extended so