rear.
Straight ahead lay the trail, beaten into a plain, broad track leading
toward the sunset, a mark which could not be mistaken and which rendered
the many compasses valueless so far as the trail itself was concerned.

The first day's travel was a comparatively short one, and during the
drive the officers rode back along the lines and again explained the
formation which would be used at the next stopping place. This point was
so near that the caravan kept on past the noon hour and did not stop
until it reached Diamond Spring, a large, crystal spring emptying into a
small brook close to a very good camping ground. The former camp no
sooner had been left than the tenderfeet began to show their
predilection to do as they pleased and to ride madly over the prairie in
search of game which was not there, finally gravitating to a common body
a mile or more ahead of the wagons, a place to which they stuck with a
determination worthy of better things.

At Diamond Spring came the first clash against authority, for the
captain had told each lieutenant to get his division across all streams
before stopping. The word had been passed along the twin lines and
seemed to have been tacitly accepted, yet when the wagons reached the
brook many of the last two divisions, thinking the farther bank too
crowded and ignoring the formation of the night encampment, pulled up
and stopped on the near side. After some argument most of them crossed
over and took up their proper places in the corral, but there were some
who expressed themselves as being entirely satisfied to remain where
they were, since there was no danger from Indians at this point. The
animals were turned loose to graze, restrained only by hobbles until
nightfall, the oxen in most cases yoked together to save trouble with
the stubborn beasts until they should become trained and more docile.
They were the most senseless of the draft animals, often stampeding for
no apparent cause; the sudden rattle of a chain or a yoke often being
all that was needed to turn them into a fleshy avalanche; and while the
Indians did not want oxen, they seemed to be aware of the excitable
natures of the beasts and made use of their knowledge to start stampedes
among the other animals with them, much the same as fulminate of mercury
is used to detonate a charge of a more stable explosive.

The first two watches of the night were pleasant, but when Tom Boyd's
squad went on duty an hour before midnig