traversed the bottom lands to the river, which we forded at a point
where it was about ninety feet wide and three feet deep, with a current
of about six miles an hour. This was about six or seven miles from the
mouth of the river. We followed the trail of the advance party through a
beautiful pine forest, free from underbrush, for the distance of two
miles, passing two beautiful lakes. By this time night had overtaken us,
and it was with difficulty that we could follow the trail, the tracks of
the horses' shoes, which were our sole guide, being hardly discernible.
But we pressed on, following the dark, serpentine line of freshly
disturbed earth till it turned up the side of the mountain, where we
followed it for upwards of a mile. Fearing lest we were not upon the
right trail, we dismounted, and, placing our faces close to the ground,
examined it carefully, but could not discover the impression of a single
horseshoe. Gathering a few dry branches of pine, we kindled a fire upon
the trail, when we discovered that we had been following, from the base
of the mountain, the trail of a band of elk that had crossed the line of
travel of the pack train at a point near the base of the mountain, and
in the dim twilight we had not discovered the mistake.

[Illustration: MAP OF YELLOWSTONE LAKE, AS KNOWN BETWEEN 1860 AND 1870.
FROM THE MAP OF RAYNOLDS' EXPEDITION OF 1860.]

The prospect for a night on the mountain, without blankets or supper,
seemed now very good; but we retraced our steps as rapidly as possible,
and on reaching the base of the mountain, struck out for the lake,
resolving to follow the beach, trusting that our party had made their
camp on the shore of the lake, in which case we should find them; but
if camped at any considerable distance from the shore, we should not
find them. Our ride over fallen timber and through morass for the
distance of about two miles to the shore of the lake was probably