We were roused this morning about 2 o’clock by the shrill howl of a mountain lion, and again while we were at breakfast we heard another yell.  As we stood around our campfire to-night, our ears were saluted with a shriek so terribly human, that for a moment we believed it to be a call from Mr. Everts, and we hallooed in response, and several of our party started in the direction whence the sounds came, and would have instituted a search for our comrade but for an admonitory growl of a mountain lion.

We have traveled to-day about seven miles.  On leaving our camps yesterday and to-day, we posted conspicuously at each a placard, stating clearly the direction we had taken and where provisions could be found.

The country through which we have passed for the past five days is like that facetiously described by Bridger as being so desolate and impassable and barren of resources, that even the crows flying over it were obliged to carry along with them supplies of provisions.

Monday, September 12.—­In accordance with our pre-arranged programme, three parties were sent out this morning in search of Mr. Everts.  Smith and Trumbull were to follow the take shore until they came in sight of our last camp.  Hauser and Gillette were to return on our trail through the woods, taking with them their blankets and two days’ rations.  General Washburn and myself were to take a southerly direction towards what we called “Brown Mountain,” some twelve miles away.  Smith and Trumbull returned early in the afternoon and reported having seen in the sand the tracks of a man’s foot, and Smith thought that he saw several Indians, who disappeared in the woods as they approached; but Trumbull, who was with him, did not see them, and Smith says it was because he was short-sighted.  For some reason they did not pursue their investigations farther, and soon returned in good order to camp.

The reconnaissance made by General Washburn and myself resulted in no discovery of any trace of Everts.  We traveled about eleven miles directly south, nearly to the base of Brown mountain, carefully examining the ground the whole of the way, to see if any horseshoe tracks could be discovered.  We crossed no stream between the lake and the mountain, and if Mr. Everts followed the stream which we crossed on the 9th, he is south of Brown mountain, for it is evident that he did not pass westward between Brown mountain and Yellowstone lake; otherwise we would have discovered the tracks of his horse.

It is now night, and Hauser and Gillette have not yet returned.