It was when we came to Bear River that I began to understand how
different this trail was from the one which we had been traveling.
Instead of finding a safe ford, we came upon a swiftly running river,
with a bed of rocks. So strong was the current that when father waded
in to drive the oxen it was necessary for him to hold firmly to the bow
of the foremost yoke lest he be thrown from his footing; the heavy cart
pitched about until I was certain it would be overturned even as had
Mrs. Russell's.
Mother said that if such an accident should befall us, it would be no
more than a just punishment to Ellen and me because we had laughed so
rudely when the Russell family were in trouble.