WHAT remains to be told will not take long. Hardshipsnaturally increased as the means of bearing them diminished.

　　I have said the salmon held out for many days. We cut it instrips, and dried it as well as we could; but the flies andmaggots robbed us of a large portion of it. At length wewere reduced to two small hams; nothing else except a littletea. Guessing the distance we had yet to go, and taking intoaccount our slow rate of travelling, I calculated the numberof days which, with the greatest economy, these could be madeto last. Allowing only one meal a day, and that of thescantiest, I scored the hams as a cook scores a leg of roastpork, determined under no circumstances to exceed the dailyration.

　　No little discipline was requisite to adhere to thisresolution. Samson broke down under the exposure andprivation; superadded dysentery rendered him all buthelpless, and even affected his mind. The whole labour ofthe camp then devolved on me. I never roused him in themorning till the mules were packed - with all but his blanketand the pannikin for his tea - and until I had saddled hishorse for him. Not till we halted at night did we get ourration of ham. This he ate, or rather bolted, raw, like awild beast. My share I never touched till after I lay downto sleep. And so tired have I been, that once or twice Iwoke in the morning with my hand at my mouth, the unswallowedmorsel between my teeth. For three weeks we went on in thisway, never exchanging a word. I cannot say how I might havebehaved had Fred been in Samson's place. I hope I shouldhave been at least humane. But I was labouring for my life,and was not over tender-hearted.

　　Certainly there was enough to try the patience of a betterman. Take an instance. Unable one morning to find my ownhorse, I saddled his and started him off, so as not to wastetime, with his spare animal and the three mules. It sohappened that our line of march was rather tortuous, owing tosome hills we had to round. Still, as there were highmountains in the distance which we were making for, it seemedimpossible that anyone could miss his way. It was twentyminutes, perhaps, before I found my horse; this would givehim about a mile or more start of me. I hurried on, butfailed to overtake him. At the end of an hour I rode to thetop of a hill which commanded a view of the course he shouldhave taken. Not a moving speck was to be seen. I knew thenthat he had gone astray. But in which direction?

　　My heart sank within me. The provisions and blankets werewith him. I do not think that at any point of my journey Ihad ever felt fear - panic that is - till now. Starvationstared me in the face. My wits refused to suggest a line ofaction. I was stunned. I felt then what I have often feltsince, what I still feel, that it is possible to wrestlesuccessfully with every difficulty that man has overcome, butnot with that supreme difficulty - man's stupidity. It didnot then occur to me to give a name to the impatience thatseeks to gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles.

　　I turned back, retraced my steps till I came to the track ofthe mules. Luckily the ground retained the footprints,though sometimes these would be lost for a hundred yards orso. Just as I anticipated - Samson had wound round the baseof the very first hill he came to; then, instead ofcorrecting the deviation, and steering for the mountains, hadsimply followed his nose, and was now travelling due east, -in other words, was going back over our track of the daybefore. It was past noon when I overtook him, so that aprecious day's labour was lost.

　　I said little, but that little was a sentence of death.

　　'After to-day,' I began, 'we will travel separately.'

　　At first he seemed hardly to take in my meaning. I explainedit.

　　'As well as I can make out, before we get to the Dalles,where we ought to find the American outposts, we have onlyabout 150 miles to go. This should not take more than eightor nine days. I can do it in a week alone, but not with you.

　　I have come to the conclusion that with you I may not be ableto do it at all. We have still those mountains' - pointingto the Blue Mountain range in the distance - 'to cross. Theyare covered with snow, as you see. We may find themtroublesome. In any case our food will only last eight ornine days more, even at the present rate. You shall have thelargest half of what is left, for you require more............