Although we started off late that morning, owing to the drying out, we
halted early in the afternoon, for we had come upon a company of men
and women who, like ourselves, were bound for the land of California.
The leader of the company was Colonel Russell.
[Illustration]
To my surprise and delight these people also proved to be Pikers,
having come from a settlement about twenty miles south of our old home.
You may readily fancy how enjoyable was that evening, when we visited
from wagon to wagon, listening to the stories of what had thus far
happened to the company, and repeating our own adventures, if such they
could be called.
While we women and girls were thus engaged, the men of both companies
decided to travel together, believing that by increasing the number
there might be less danger from the Indians, for Eben Jordan said that
the savages we saw at Independence were but imitations of the fiercer
ones whom we were most likely to meet before our journey's end.