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eat. The water was brackish and the more one drank, the more one wanted
to drink. It was a terribly hot place, but the mules got some grass
and we stayed there till evening. Then we started to go to Truckee
river [River]. It was twenty-five miles across a desert to Truckee river [River]. We
had no canteen. Traveling along about twelve o'clock at night we went
to sleep a walking. John would stumble up against me once in a while
and I knew he was asleep and I would wake once in a while as if from a
dream. We laid down and took a nap, fastening the mules to the underbrush.

Next day about eleven o'clock we came to a boiling spring We
could not travel fast; one mule was lightly loaded and the other had no
load, but we could walk better than the mules could carry us, for they
were nearly given out. John happened to have a little ginger in one
of his pockets and there was an old tin can lying there, so we made
ginger tea which we drank and it refreshed us. John's eyes were very
sore from the alkali dust. Along late in the afternoon we got to
within seven miles of Truckee river [River]. There we came across a man from
Galena, Wis., – a gambler who was taking a party thru to California.
He had three or four wagons. The sand was deep and he had sent the men
to the river for water while he and his wife stayed in one of the wagons.
I went to him and told him how we had become separated from our party
and wanted to buy some provisions. He said he was scarce and hadn't
any spare to sell, but he had some crackers and he gave us a few crackers.
Our youngest mule, about three years old, in crossing this desert
would pick up stones and work them around in his mouth and then drop