"How far off, is it?" I asked. "You may reach them or their halting-place by to-morrow noon," was the response. He evidently did not know the speed of the animal I was mounted on, or my temper. It was before nine on the following morning, that I arrived at Captain Crim's halting-place. He had been detained here by a distemper which had attacked the horses, and possibly, as Brighton Bill asserted, by a faint hope that I might yet make my re-appearance. The first who saw me approaching the camp was Tom Doyle. His wild shout startled all in the camp. "Hillo! Here's Mose." The cry was enough. In a few moments, I was surrounded and almost torn to pieces by the nervous hands which clutched mine. Even Captain Crim squeezed my fingers with his own stalwart grip, and told me, "how glad 'he' was to see me, whole and safe again." After this came question and reply, so fast, that my tongue, silent during the last two days and a half, literally ached with its answers, and I was glad enough when the hour for eating came, to which portion of the antelope I had killed on the preceding day made no despicable addition, as game had still been scarce with the boys. CHAPTER V. A TEMPEST--THE BRUTE WITH NO RHEUMATIC PITY--AN IMPROMPTU GALLOWS--HANGING A RASCAL--MY STAGE WARDROBE--UNDER WATER WITH A WATER-TIGHT WAGON--THE KEG OF WHISKEY--ITS UNFORESEEN RESULTS--A MOUNTAIN CANNON--NATURAL SODA-WATER--AN INDIAN ATTACK--RAISING MY FIRST HAIR--TAKING A LESSON FROM THE RED MAN--BRITISH CRITICISM--THE VALLEY OF A THOUSAND SPRINGS. The rest which had been given the horses partially restored them, and on the following day the train was again in motion. After reaching what is known by the old Emigrants as the last crossing of the Sweet Water, Captain Crim decided to take a road farther north than the usual one. He had crossed the plains several times before. Knowing that the Sublett's route and Headspath Cut-off, as well as the Salt Lake line of travel, were peculiarly hard upon stock, he determined this time, to try a track of his own. We therefore followed up the Sweet Water, crossing it repeatedly, and at length passed the Rocky Mountains. Thence we went to Green River. This river presented us with great difficulties to find a place for passing it. The current is, at all times, swift and strong. On this occasion it was greatly swollen, in consequence of the heavy snows of the preceding winter, higher in the mountains. After hunting for an available ford more than half a day, one was at last discovered, and the horses were brought over without the slightest loss. That night, however, we experienced a fearful storm, or rather a hurricane.