He was now among his friends. The next day, accompanied by a strong guard, he reached his home, which he found deserted. It had been looted that very morning. But where were his wife and children? At length they were found secreted in an Indian lodge with some friendly Indians ten miles distant. When he finally found them, all were overcome with emotions too deep to be described. They then all returned to their home under a sufficient guard, where they remained for several weeks, protected by friendly Indians. In the meantime an express had been sent to Vancouver, the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company, apprising the chief factor of what had occurred. He immediately dispatched Factor Peter Skeen Ogden, one of the most tactful men, who made all possible haste to Walla Walla to rescue the prisoners. He was successful. For about four hundred dollars' worth of blankets, beads and other trinkets the Indians delivered to him all at the fort, which was located at what is now Wallula. Negotiations were also entered into for the delivery of Mr. Spalding and family. They, under a guard of forty Nez Perces, finally rode into the fort. There little Eliza fell into her mother's arms with transports of joy too deep for utterance. The last days of December witnessed the departure of all these people from the upper country, who arrived at Oregon City December 31, 1847. Soon after this, the provisional governor of Oregon, George Abernethy, called for a regiment of volunteers, who went up and fought the Indians. That is what is known as the Cayuse Indian war, the first Indian war in the Northwest. After a campaign of six months, the Indians were driven out of their country and large numbers of their horses were captured. Eventually, through the kind offices of the Nez Perces Indians, five of the murderers were delivered up, and taken to Oregon City, where they were tried, convicted and executed by the authorities. Mr. Spalding then settled in the Willamette Valley, where he lived for a number of years. Governor Abernethy had issued a proclamation warning all Americans not to settle east of the Cascade Mountains, and for nearly ten years that section of the country was closed to settlement. Three years after they went to lower Oregon, Mrs. Spalding passed away. Never a strong woman, the excitement, fatigue, and exposure, incident to the breaking up of the mission, and moving to the Willamette Valley, had been too much for her. After a lingering illness, she closed her labors for the cause of her Master, whom she so much loved. Eliza was now left at the age of thirteen at the head of the household with the care of the family. She had one brother and two sisters. The burden was a heavy one for her young shoulders to bear. In a few years, her father having married, she also married, and for a time disappears from our narrative.