Still, since I had come hither as a last resort,
it would do no good for me to go back unsuccessful. Should I wait here,
or at Leavenworth; or should I go on still farther west? Auberry decided
that for me.
"I tell you what we can do," he said. "We can outfit here, and take the
Cut-off trail to the Platte, across the Kaw and the Big and Little
Blue--that'll bring us in far enough east to catch the Colonel if he's
comin' down the valley. You'd just as well be travelin' as loafin', and
that's like enough the quickest way to find him."
The counsel seemed good. I sat down and wrote two more letters home,
once more stating that I was not starting east, but going still farther
west. This done, I tried to persuade myself to feel no further
uneasiness, and to content my mind with the sense of duty done.
Auberry, as it chanced, fell in with a party bound for Denver, five men
who had two wagons, a heavy Conestoga freight wagon, or prairie
schooner, and a lighter vehicle without a cover. We arranged with these
men, and their cook as to our share in the mess box, and so threw in our
dunnage with theirs, Auberry and I purchasing us a good horse apiece. By
noon of the next day we were on our way westward, Auberry himself now
much content.
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