The Captain of the company had a very nice looking lady with him, and they carried a fine wall tent which they occupied when they went into camp.  The company cook served their meals to them in the privacy of their tent, and they seemed to enjoy themselves very nicely.  Everybody thought the Captain was very lucky in having such an accomplished companion, and journey along quietly to the gold fields at government expense.

There seemed to be just a little jealousy between the Captain and the Lieutenant, and one day I saw them both standing in angry attitude before the Captain’s quarters, both mounted, with their carbines lying across their saddles before them.  They had some pretty sharp, hot words, and it looked as if they both were pretty nearly warmed up to the shooting point.  Once the Lieutenant moved his right hand a little, and the Captain was quick to see it, shouting;—­“Let your gun alone or I will make a hole through you,” at the same time grasping his own and pointing it straight at the other officer.  During all this time the Captain’s lady stood in the tent door, and when she saw her favorite had the drop on the Lieutenant she clapped her delicate, little hands in a gleeful manner:—­“Just look at the Captain!  Ain’t he spunky?” and then she laughed long and loud to see her lord show so much military courage.  She seemed more pleased at the affair than any one else.  I don’t know exactly what the others thought, but I never could believe that the lady and the Captain were ever married.

The Lieutenant was no coward, but probably thinking that prudence was the better part of valor, refrained from handling his gun, and the two soon rode away in opposite directions.

We passed a lone rock standing in the river bottom on the Sweetwater, which they named Independence Rock.  It was covered with the names of thousands of people who had gone by on that road.  Some were pretty neatly chiseled in, some very rudely scrawled, and some put on with paint.  I spent all the time I could hunting Mr. Bennett’s name, but I could not find it anywhere.  To have found his name, and thus to know that he had safely passed this point would have been a little re-assuring in those rather doubtful days.  Some had named the date of their passing, and some of them were probably pretty near the gold fields at this time.

All along in this section we found alkali water near the road, some very strong and dangerous for man or beast to use.  We traveled on up the Sweetwater for some time, and at last came to a place where the road left the river, and we had a long, hard hill to pull up.  When we reached the top of this we were in the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, the backbone of the American continent.  To the north of us were some very high peaks white with snow, and to the south were some lower hills and valleys.  The summit of the mountains was not quite as imposing as I expected, but it was the summit, and we were