renewed courage, and threateningly. It took diplomacy to postpone an
attack till morning, when powder would be dry. They relied upon a
display of magic power from their firearms that would impress superior
numbers with the senselessness of hostilities. They did not sleep in
great security, and early in the morning proceeded with the
demonstration, upon which much depended.

When they set up a target and at sixty yards pierced a scrap of paper
and the tree to which it was pinned the effect was satisfactory. The
Indians were astonished at the feat, but equally impressed by the
unaccountable noise from the explosion. They became very friendly,
warned the wonder-workers of the danger to be encountered if they headed
north, where Indians were many and fierce, and told them to keep due
west.

The perilous journey was continued by the ascent of another
mountainside. Provisions soon became very scarce, nothing but flour
remaining, and little of that. On the 18th they went dinnerless to their
cold blankets. Their animals had been without food for two days, but the
next morning they found grass. A redwood forest was soon encountered,
and new difficulties developed. The underbrush was dense and no trails
were found. Fallen trees made progress very slow. Two miles a day was
all they could accomplish. They painfully worked through the section of
the marvelous redwood belt destined to astonish the world, reaching a
small prairie, where they camped. The following day they devoted to
hunting, luckily killing a number of deer. Here they remained several
days, drying the venison in the meantime; but when, their strength
recuperated, they resumed their journey, the meat was soon exhausted.
Three days of fasting for man and beast followed. Two of the horses
were left to their fate. Then another prairie yielded more venison and