We camped on a slope of the ridge, down which ran a small brook, and those who had tents set them up in a grove of cedar trees where they looked most inviting. When, however, Ellen and I strolled that way we found the mosquitoes and midges so thick that it seemed as if we had a veil in front of our faces.
That night the men of our company gathered apart from the women and children, seemingly to discuss some important matter; my curiosity was so far aroused that when I saw Eben Jordan I called upon him for an explanation, and he told me that we had come to the most dangerous part of our journey, where we must encounter perils so great that those which had already been overcome would seem as nothing.
THE GREAT SALT DESERT
We were near what is known as the Great Salt Desert; in fact, were to cross it on the morrow, and when Eben Jordan led me some distance farther up the ridge, I could see it at my feet.
The desert is covered with salt like sand, and on it grows nothing except wild sage, while from where we were then camped, until it would be possible again to find water, is no less than sixty miles, as Eben said.
Sixty miles over a soft surface where the animals would oftentimes sink fetlock-deep, and the wheels of the wagons plow into the salt sand until the progress must be woefully slow. In addition, all the while we would plod along knowing that no water was to be had, save what we carried with us, until the train gained the opposite side.
We were camped on the side of a mountain which seemed to be made up almost wholly of rock; this place had been decided upon because there could be found a small spring, yielding barely enough water to satisfy the desires of ourselves and the animals.
It was the last spring or stream of fresh water we should come upon until we had traveled across that desert, which, from the distance, looked like a great sea of milk. Once we had started upon the journey, it would be necessary to continue on, heeding not those who might fall by the way, so I heard father and Colonel Russell say, for the lives of our people depended upon our going steadily forward.