Not much rest at this camp for in the morning we aimed to start early and reach the water in the foothills.  We thought we could do it if we started early, walked rapidly and took no resting spell at noon.  Such a poor soil as this we were anxious to get away from, and walk once more on a soil that would grow something besides stunted sage brush.  From all appearances the Jayhawkers were here in about the same predicament Rogers and I were when we lost the trail.  By their tracks we could see they had scattered wide and there was no road left for us to follow, and they had evidently tried to follow our former tracks.  Having no trail to follow we passed on as best we could and came to a wide piece of land on which were growing a great many cabbage trees.  The soil was of the finest dust with no grit in it, and not long before a light shower had fallen, making it very soft and hard to get along in with the moccasins.  The women had to stop to rest frequently, so our progress was very slow.  Rogers and I had feet about as hard as those of the oxen, so we removed our moccasins and went barefoot, finding we could get along much easier in that way, but the others had such tender feet they could not endure the rough contact with the brush and mud.  Only a few miles had been made before the women were so completely tired out that we had to stop and eat our little bit of dried meat and wait till morning.  The little mule now carried all our stock of food, and the precious burden lightened every day.  This delay was not expected, but we had to endure it and bear it patiently, for there was a limit to strength of the feeble ones of our party.  We had therefore to make another barren camp.  Relief seemed so near at hand we kept good courage and talked freely of the happy ending which would soon come.  If we had any way to set a good table we would feast and be merry like the prodigal son, but at any rate we shall be safe if we can reach the fertile shore.

When the sun went down we tied the mule and oxen to cabbage trees, and shortly after dusk lay down ourselves, for we had enjoyed a good fire made of the trunks of cabbage trees, the first really comfortable one in a long time.  The air was cooler here, for we were on higher ground, and there was some snow on the range of mountains before us, which sent these cool breezes down to us, a change of climate quite pleasing.

For breakfast in the morning we had only dried meat roasted before the fire, without water, and when we started each one put a piece in his or her pocket to chew on during the day as we walked along.  As we went ahead the ground grew dryer and the walking much improved.  The morning overhead was perfectly lovely, as away east, across the desert the sun early showed his face to us.  Not a cloud anywhere, not even over the tops of the high peaks where great white masses sometimes cluster but dissolve as soon as they float away, and there was not wind enough to be perceptible.  We remarked the same lack of animal life which we had noticed on our first passage over this section, seeing not a rabbit, bird, or living thing we could use for food.  Bennett had the same load in his gun he put there when we left the wagons, and all the powder I had burned was that used in killing the oxen we had slain whenever it became necessary to provide for our barren kitchen.