However, that very evening provisions walked in of themselves—being a cow and her calf. They must have escaped from some emigrant party; and they were made more of even than had been the red ox—for the cow gave milk in abundance. Here was luxury: milk for coffee. So they took the mother and child along with them.
Early in the second morning thereafter the company entered the beautiful valley of what Ike and William and all said was the Bear River. Below but a short distance were the “Beer Springs” and the “Steamboat Spring”; and further below was the Great Salty Lake.
That they would visit the springs was certain, because the trail led past them; but whether they would visit the lake was not so certain, although Basil, reporting to the Carson men, assured:
“We will. I think we will. I hear the lieutenant and Mr. Preuss talking so. That is why we brought again the boat.”
“Boat!” snorted Ike. “Another o’ them rubber contraptions?”
“Bien encore,” confirmed Basil. “It is ready in the packs. Like the other but not so big.”
“Humph!” grumbled William New. “Thought I smelt it!”
Oliver wished much to ask questions about the springs, but he knew that if he waited he would find out everything, whereas if he asked he would likely be filled with trapper yarns. Besides, it was the part of a greenhorn to put many foolish questions. However, William New did remark, as they rode along:
“That ’ere springs basin ahead’ll make you think you’re in the infernal regions. Red rock an’ blue rock an’ green trees, an’ hot water an’ cold, an’ sulphur smells an’ noises. Wagh!”
Emigrants, making a large and happy encampment, were passed; and still more, encamped or moving, their white-topped wagons showing finely. The men were dressed in flannel or calico shirts, jeans and boots; the women in calico; the children, chiefly barefoot, in material of various makeshift kinds: and everybody was happy and hopeful and well, eager to talk of “Oregon” or of “Californy.”