FORT LARAMIE was a military station and trading postcombined. It was a stone building in what they called a'compound' or open space, enclosed by a palisade. When wearrived there, it was occupied by a troop of mounted riflemenunder canvas, outside the compound. The officers lived inthe fort; and as we had letters to the Colonel - Somner - andto the Captain - Rhete, they were very kind and very usefulto us.

　　We pitched our camp by the Laramie river, four miles from thefort. Nearer than that there was not a blade of grass. Thecavalry horses and military mules needed all there was athand. Some of the mules we were allowed to buy, or exchangefor our own. We accordingly added six fresh ones to ourcavalcade, and parted with two horses; which gave us a totalof fifteen mules and six horses. Government provisions werenot to be had, so that we could not replenish our nowimpoverished stock. This was a serious matter, as will beseen before long. Nor was the evil lessened by my being laidup with a touch of fever - the effect, no doubt, of thosedrenches of stagnant water. The regimental doctor wasabsent. I could not be taken into the fort. And, as we hadno tent, and had thrown away almost everything but theclothes we wore, I had to rough it and take my chance. Somerelics of our medicine chest, together with a toughconstitution, pulled me through. But I was much weakened,and by no means fit for the work before us. Fred did hisbest to persuade me from going further. He confessed that hewas utterly sick of the expedition; that his injured kneeprevented him from hunting, or from being of any use inpacking and camp work; that the men were a set of ruffianswho did just as they chose - they grumbled at the hardships,yet helped themselves to the stores without restraint; thatwe had the Rocky Mountains yet to cross; after that, thecountry was unknown. Colonel Somner had strongly advised usto turn back. Forty of his men had tried two months ago tocarry despatches to the regiment's headquarters in Oregon.

　　Only five had got through; the rest had been killed andscalped. Finally, that we had something like 1,200 miles togo, and were already in the middle of August. It would befolly, obstinacy, madness, to attempt it. He would stop andhunt where we were, as long as I liked; or he would go backwith me. He would hire fresh good men, and buy new horses;and, now that we knew the country, we could get to St. Louisbefore the end of September, and' - . There was no reasonableanswer to be made. I simply told him I had thought it over,and had decided to go on. Like the plucky fellow and staunchfriend that he was, he merely shrugged his shoulders, andquietly said, 'Very well. So be it.'

　　Before leaving Fort Laramie a singular incident occurred,which must seem so improbable, that its narration may betaken for fiction. It was, however, a fact. There wasplenty of game near our camping ground; and though theweather was very hot, one of the party usually took thetrouble to bring in something to keep the pot supplied. Thesage hens, the buffalo or elk meat were handed over to Jacob,who made a stew with bacon and rice, enough for the eveningmeal and the morrow's breakfast. After supper, when everyonehad filled his stomach, the large kettle, covered with itslid, was taken off the fire, and this allowed to burn itselfout.

　　For four or five mornings running the kettle was found nearlyempty, and all hands had to put up with a cup of coffee andmouldy biscuit dust. There was a good deal ofunparliamentary language. Everyone accused everyone else offilthy greediness. It was disgusting that after eating allhe could, a man hadn't the decency to wait till the morning.

　　The pot had been full for supper, and, as every man couldsee, it was never half emptied - enough was always left forbreakfast. A resolution was accordingly passed that eachshould take his turn of an hour's watch at night, till theglutton was caught in the act.

　　My hour happened to be from 11 to 12 P.M. I stronglysuspected the thief to be an Indian, and loaded my big pistolwith slugs on the chance. It was a clear moonlight night. Ipropped myself comfortably with a bag of hams; and concealedmyself as well as I could in a bush of artemisia, which wasvery thick all round. I had not long been on the look-outwhen a large grey wolf prowled slowly out of the bushes. Thenight was bright as day; but every one of the men was soundasleep in a circle round the remains of the camp fire. Thewolf passed between them, hesitating as it almost touched acovering blanket. Step by step it crept up to the kettle,took the handle of the lid between its jaws, lifted it off,placed it noiselessly on the ground, and devoured the savourystew.

　　I could not fire, because of the men. I dared not move, lestI should disturb the robber. I was even afraid the click ofcocking the pistol would startle him and prevent my getting aquiet shot. But patience was rewarded. When satiated, thebrute retired as stealthily as he had advanced; and as hepassed within seven or eight yards of me I let him have it.

　　Great was my disappointment to see him scamper off. How wasit possible I could have missed him? I must have fired overhis back. The men jumped to their feet and clutched theirrifles; but, though astonished at my story, were soon at restagain. After this the kettle was never robbed. Four dayslater we were annoyed with such a stench that it was aquestion of shifting our quarters. In hunting for thenuisance amongst the thicket of wormwood, the dead wolf wasdiscovered not twenty yards from our centre.

　　The reader would not thank me for an account of themonotonous drudgery, the hardships, the quarrellings, whichgrew worse from day to day after we left Fort Laramie. Fredand I were about the only two who were on speaking terms; weclung to each other, as a sort of forlorn security againstcoming disasters. Gradually it was dawning on me that, underthe existing circumstances, the fulfilment of my hopes wouldbe (as Fred had predicted) an impossibility; and that topersist in the attempt to realise them was to courtdestruction. As yet, I said nothing of this to him. PerhapsI was ashamed to. Perhaps I secretly acknowledged to myselfthat he had been wiser than I, and that my stubbornness wasresponsible for the life itself of every one of the party.

　　Doubtless thoughts akin to these must often have haunted themind of my companion; but he never murmured; only uttered ahasty objurgation when troubles reached a climax, andinvariably ended with a burst of cheery laughter which onlythe sulkiest could resist. It was after a day of severetrials he proposed that we should go off by ourselves for acouple of nights in search of game, of which we were much inneed. The men were easily persuaded to halt and rest.

　　Samson had become a sort of nonentity. Dysentery hadterribly reduced his strength, and with it such intelligenceas he could boast of. We started at daybreak, right glad tobe alone together and away from the penal servitude to whichwe were condemned. We made for the Sweetwater, not very farfrom the foot of the South Pass, where antelope and black-tailed deer abounded. We failed, however, to get near them -stalk after stalk miscarried.

　　Disappointed and tired, we were looking out for some snuglittle hollow where we could light a fire without its beingseen by the Indians, when, just as we found what we wanted,an antelope trotted up to a brow to inspect us. I had a............