low logs or caves or in thick
brush in the day time anywhere out of sight. Just at that moment a
Coyote yelped; he was up the river a short distance and for the next two
hours there was a continual howl. I asked the old lady if she thought
the wolves needed any coaxing to make them yelp. She said, no, she
guessed, Mr. Bridger was right when he said they were noisy. Early in
the morning I did not wait for breakfast but mounted my horse and went
down to the river. I crossed it at the ford to ascertain whether there
was quick sand in the ford enough to interfere with the crossing of the
emigrant train.

I will here explain to the reader that it was very necessary to examine
the fords of the Platte river, as it was a treacherous stream in the way
of quick sand, but this time I found nothing in the way to interfere
with our crossing. When I got back to camp they were just sitting down
to breakfast. I told Jim that there would be no trouble in crossing the
river, to which he replied, "All right, when we get ready to cross I
want you to lead the train. We will cross twenty-five wagons at a time,
and I will have all the mounted men ride on each side of the wagons to
keep the teams in their places."

We were successful in landing all the wagons in safety and were all on
the other side by eleven o'clock. I asked Jim where we should camp that
night; he asked me how far it was to Quaking Asp Grove. I told him I
thought it was about nine miles to that place.

He said, "Well, I think we can make it there in good season and that
will be a good place to camp."

I now instructed my scouts what their duty was, and we pulled out, I
taking the lead from one to two and a half miles ahead of the train.

Late that afternoon I discovered considerable Indian signs where they
had crossed the main trail. I followed their trail quite a way and
decided that they had passed that way about two days before.

After we went into camp I rode to the top of a high hill about a mile
away to look for Indian camp fires. I was soon convinced that there were
no Indians near us and started back to camp. I had got within a quarter
of a mile of the camp when I saw two men sitting on a log just ahead of
me; I rode up to them, and when I spoke to them I recognized them as two
of the eleven that left us with the four wagons at Fort Kerney. I said
to them, "Men, what are you doing here, and where are your teams and the
rest of the men who went with you?"

They