[Illustration:  MARCH OF THE CARAVAN]

[Illustration:  UNITED STATES TROOPS CROSSING THE DESERT]

Mr. Stanton had left Mr. McCutchen sick at Sutter’s Fort.  He brought information also concerning Messrs. Reed and Herron, whom he had met in the Sacramento valley.  At the time of meeting, they were quite a distance from the settlement, had been without food three days, and Mr. Reed’s horse was completely worn out.  Mr. Stanton had furnished Mr. Reed with a fresh mount, and provisions enough to carry both men to Sutter’s Fort.

In camp that night, Mr. Stanton outlined our course to the settlement, and in compliance with my father’s earnest wish, consented to lead the train across the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Frost in the air and snow on the distant peaks warned us against delays; yet, notwithstanding the need of haste, we were obliged to rest our jaded teams.  Three yoke of oxen had died from exhaustion within a week, and several of those remaining were not in condition to ascend the heavy grades before them.

On the twentieth, Mr. Pike met death in his own tent by the accidental discharge of a six-shooter in the hands of Mr. Foster, his brother-in-law.  He left a young wife, and two small children, Naomi, three years of age, and Catherine, a babe in arms.  His loss was keenly felt by the company, for he was highly esteemed.

We broke camp on the twenty-second, and my father and uncle took our wagons to the rear of the train in order to favor our cattle, and also to be near families whose teams might need help in getting up the mountains.  That day we crossed the Truckee River for the forty-ninth and last time in eighty miles, and encamped for the night at the top of a high hill, where we received our last experience of Indian cruelty.  The perpetrator was concealed behind a willow, and with savage vim and well trained hand, sent nineteen arrows whizzing through the air, and each arrow struck a different ox.  Mr. Eddy caught him in the act; and as he turned to flee, the white man’s rifle ball struck him between the shoulders and pierced his body.  With a spring into the air and an agonizing shriek, he dropped lifeless into the bushes below.  Strange, but true, not an ox was seriously hurt!

The train took the trail early next morning, expecting to cross the summit of the Sierras and reach California in less than two weeks.

The following circumstances, which parted us forever from the train which father had led through so many difficulties, were told me by my sister, Mrs. Elitha C. Wilder, now of Bruceville, California: