called their first venturesome launch into the great desert. Traveling thus for a few days they made a brief halt and divided the party into two divisions. One section was commanded by Walker (after whom Walker's lake was named), a mountaineer of great skill and knowing as much as any one of the route they were now pursuing, while Fremont's branch, under the leadership of the indomitable "Kit," started south to make a bee line through the center of the desert, his section including ten persons, Delaware Indians and whites.

A curious trait of Indian disposition was afforded Kit and his friends a few days thereafter. Walker's lake, at which they arrived, was frequented at certain seasons of the year by the Indians for the purpose of taking fish, with which the lake abounded. It happened that some dozen Indians suddenly appeared in sight. They were progressing like a file of geese, one almost stepping in the tracks of the preceding, their heads bowed and their eyes cast down. The whites and Indians passed close to each other without giving the least sign that they had been observed.

On one occasion Kit and his friends had need for all their courage and experience in the ways of the thieving red men. On one of their hunting and trapping expeditions in 1847, while camping on Humboldt river, a company of emigrants had several horses run off in the night by the prowling savages. Four of the emigrants went in pursuit of the Indians to recover the stolen stock. When word came to Carson's camp of the loss of the animals, he, with Maxwell, Owen and two Delaware Indians, took up the trail and dashed off to the rescue. And well it was they had taken such a hasty departure, for after a rapid ride of several miles

they reached a small valley in the foothills where the savages had entrapped the inexperienced emigrants. Some had pushed on with the stolen animals, while others had remained in ambush until the white men had passed. As soon as they realized their dangerous condition, they entrenched themselves among the rocks and trees as best they could, and being well armed, were making a gallant defense. The Indians, however, were gradually closing in upon them by skulking from one rock and tree to another. Dogs were barking, and women and children shouting when Kit and his followers dashed in with loud, ringing shouts, dealing death with their well-aimed rifles and making a number of "good Indians." The village was soon cleared of the remaining bucks, women and children, the animals recovered and brought back to camp, to the great joy and relief of those dependent upon their teams to pursue their journey.

CHAPTER XI.

PILOT'S PEAK AND BEYOND.

Our three nights at Pilot's Peak were a welcome rest, gratefully enjoyed by man and beast. I mention nights instead of days because, as there was no tree or other shelter as a protection from the burning rays of the sun, the nights, which were comparatively cool and pleasant, were the only time during the twenty-four hours we could obtain needed sleep and strength to pursue our journey. While we were there in camp hundreds who had followed in our rear came straggling in, many in far worse condition than ourselves. Some had dropped by the way, to be rescued later by a relief party, or to leave their bones to bleach on the desert sands.

One very peculiar and curious phenomenon well worthy of mention occurred when looking back over the route by which the "pilgrims" were coming. It was not properly a mirage or optical illusion, as the appearance was real, but caused, no doubt, by the refraction of the sun's rays upon the heated sands of the desert. Men on foot and horseback, and animals with packs, could be seen apparently hundreds of feet in the air, all traveling as on terra firma. A wide expanse of sky could be seen below them. It was a novel spectacle, which we watched for hours.

On the third day after our arrival at Peak Springs, at 5 o'clock p. m., we again packed our faithful animals, to which we gave the best care possible, if for no other reason than for self-interest, as they were regarded as the most important and indispensable members of our family. After going two or three miles leisurely along the base of the mountain, where numerous springs and good grass abounded, we struck out over another forty-mile desert, which we regarded as a play spell compared with what we had already experienced. Night travel was preferred for making long distances, on account of the heat during the day. As we were then at an elevation of between 4,000 and 5,000 feet above sea level, the moon and stars in that saline and rarefied atmosphere shone with peculiar brilliance, and at that time, with nearly a full moon, it was almost as light as day. As before, we provided refreshments for our horses and made one halt only during the night, and reached a camping ground at 8 o'clock in the morning, where was a limited supply of feed and a little brackish water. We remained here until evening and again packed our horses and continued our journey about ten miles, where better accommodations were found.

10 the limit of vision, in every direction, the whole region presented a barren and desolate appearance. Isolated, rocky peaks and broken ridges rose at long intervals out of the plain, but no tree or vegetable growth, except the ever-present and hated sage-brush (only when it was needed for fuel) was to be seen. For the 130 miles of desert travel not a living creature or sign of animal life had been seen.

To the west, the direction our route lay, possibly

150 miles distant, the top of a mountain range could be indistinctly seen, which we subsequently learned was the Humboldt range. The same monotonous conditions of camping and traveling continued for the next two or three days, finding only small patches of a poor quality of grass and equally bad water.

Arriving at a range of hills, or low mountains, which the condition of the atmosphere had prevented. our seeing distinctly at a long distance, we decided to enter a narrow, rocky gorge, and take our chances for a successful outcome on the opposite side, as the distance apparently was not very great, instead of looking for a more feasible crossing elsewhere, as others probably had done. It is worthy of remark here that very little evidence of travel could be seen at this time. The few who had preceeded us on the "fools' cut-off" had paid but little regard to a definite route, they, like ourselves, only aiming now to keep a westerly course and look for grass and water, as their only hope. A dim pack trail at this point was the only evidence that we were not the sole human beings on that desolate, treeless and almost waterless region.

We filed in to the gorge with Captain Hardy in the lead. As we, advanced it became more narrow and difficult, if not dangerous. The only available pack trail led along the precipitous side of the gulch, perhaps 100 feet above the bottom. In passing the point of a projecting rock, the trail being very narrow, one of the horses, losing his balance by a misstep or the pack striking the point of rock, he rolled and struggled to the bottom of the gorge. With the exception of smashing a long-used coffee pot and frying pan―very necessary articles for our housekeeping-and a few bruises on