Seeing the matter in this light I thought it would be best to take my money and go back to Wisconsin where government land was good and plenty, and with even my little pile I could soon be master of a good farm in a healthy country, and I would there be rich enough.  Thus reasoning I decided to return to Wisconsin, for I could not see how a man could ever be a successful farmer in a country where there were only two seasons, one wet and the other long and dry.

I went out and hunted up my mule which I had turned out to pasture for herself, and found her entirely alone.  After a little coaxing I caught her and brought her with me to camp, where I offered her for sale.  She was sleek and fat and looked so well that Helms said that if I could beat him shooting he would buy both mule and gun; so three or four of us tried our skill.  My opponents boasted a good deal of their superior marksmanship, but on the trial, which began at short range, I beat them all pretty badly.  Helms was as good as his word and offered me twelve ounces for my gun and mule, which I took.  I thought a great deal of my fat little one-eyed mule, and I thought then, as I think now, how well she did her part on the fearful road to and from Death Valley.

Helms was now going to the valley to have a winter’s hunt, for here the snow would fall four feet deep and no mining work could be done till spring, when he would return and work his claim again.

I now had all in my pocket, and when I got ready to go Mrs. Bennett was much affected at knowing that I would now leave them, perhaps never to return to them again.  She clasped me in her arms, embraced me as she would her own son, and said “Good luck to you—­God bless you, for I know that you saved all our lives.  I don’t suppose you will ever come back, but we may come back to Wisconsin sometime and we will try to find a better road than the one we came over.  Give my best regards to all who inquire after us.”  She shook my hand again and again with earnest pressure, and cried and sobbed bitterly.  As I climbed the mountain she stood and watched me so long as I was in sight, and with her handkerchief waved a final adieu.  I was myself much affected at this parting, for with Mr. and Mrs. Bennett had been really a home to me; she had been to me as a mother, and it was like leaving a home fireside to go away from them.  I was now starting out among strangers, and those I should meet might be the same good friends as those whom I had left behind.  Mr. Bennett and I had for many years been hunting companions; I had lived at his house in the East, and we never disagreed but had always been good friends.  I had now a traveling companion whose home was in Iowa Co., Wis., where I had lived for several years, and we went along together by way of Greenwood where there was a small mining town built of tents, many of which were used as gambling places.  These places were occupied by gentlemen, some of whom wore white shirts to distinguish them, I presume, from the common herd of miners from whom they won their dust.