I said we only ate a little at first:  I only ate a little for two reason; first, I did not relish the food; second, I had heard of persons being killed by eating too much after fasting for a long time, and I had no desire to commit suicide just then.  Field ate too much.  Night came on, work was suspended, and we retired.  The poor old lone, and, no doubt, now lonely, mule, having filled himself with grass, came up near the now terribly-mutilated remains of his late companion, and looked on as Field continued his bloody work.  Field, with an expression of sorrow, said, “If that mule could reason and look forward to the time when his body might be in a like condition as that of this horse, he would, no doubt, take to his heels, bid us a final farewell, and seek other society.”  But, fortunately for us, he did not know that he was to be held in reserve for our future security.  He was securely tied up every night from that time until the day he was slain for our salvation.

Early in the night following that eventful day, my companion began to complain much as he had done on the night after he had eaten the little red berries; but there was no lack of water now, no need of a special rain-cloud.  I got up, heated water in our little camp kettle, applied hot cloths to his aching belly, and did everything else that either of us could think of for his relief.  The pain was intense, and we feared that he would surely die, and earnestly prayed all the rest of the night that he might be relieved, and get well.  Towards morning most violent vomiting came on, which continued for thirty hours, or more.  He was not able to walk for three days, and during that time I nursed him, finished jerking the meat, and built a raft of some partly rotten logs, which I found in the vicinity, on which we floated across the river, on the fourth day after our arrival here.  I also looked to the welfare of the mule, and prepared some bags in which to carry our jerk.  Manley, I am sure that you know the meaning of the term “jerk” so that a definition of the word is not at all necessary.

The old logs of which the raft was made were remnants of log cabins, a number of which had been built and occupied more than half a century before, but by whom I do not know.  Field remarked that the finding of these old rotting logs there was another “God send,” as we then had neither ax, hammer, nor any tool of iron with which to cut down a tree.  I bound these logs together with long strips cut from the hide of the dead horse.  Paddles and poles were also provided.  The mule was with difficulty driven across the river.