Having made their observations, the small party returned to the main camp. On the following day the journey was resumed, the route leading around the south side of the lake, until they reached the last fresh water to be found in that direction. Before them lay a wide and unknown desert, over which no white man had ever passed. Kit Carson had been at this spot several times in previous years, and had often heard the oldest trappers speak of the impossibility of crossing it for man or beast. They had always shrunk from a path apparently endless, which offered appearances of neither grass nor water. Colonel Fremont had determined to try the formidable desert, and, if possible, unfold its hidden secrets. His men were equally ambitious with himself, and were ready to second his efforts without fearing the trials or sufferings which the desert route might exact. Colonel Fremont arranged all of his plans commensurate with the hardships in expectancy. Early the subsequent morning he dispatched Kit Carson, Maxwell and two others as an advance party to break the road and look for a camping site. With his telescope, he then ascended a neighboring mountain to watch the little party of pioneers. In the event that water and grass should be found, Kit Carson's orders were to build a fire, the smoke of which would serve as a signal to Fremont, who would immediately follow up their trail with the whole command. For sixty miles, Kit Carson with his little party traveled over this level, barren and sandy desert, without coming to a drop of water or a blade of grass. At the end of this distance they reached the mountains, on the west side of the lake, and found both in abundance. The signal of smoke was now made, according to agreement. Even at this long distance Fremont discovered it, and immediately set his party in motion. Kit Carson sent back one of the men to meet the main body, and guide it across the dreary waste. Before the party had accomplished more than half the distance to Kit Carson's advance, night set in, forcing the whole band to encamp without water, grass, or fuel. The camp became more necessary because the darkness was so great that they could not follow the trail in a night march. Early the following day the march was resumed, and a few hours served once more to reunite the command. They had the misfortune, however, to lose a few of their animals. The place which Kit Carson had selected for the camp was, to the weary travelers, in every respect equal to an oasis on the Great Sahara. There is no one thing which a traveler on the plains dreads more than being forced to camp without water and grass.