Bennett told them they would know surely about the way when the boys returned, and knowing the road would know how to manage and what to expect and work for, and could get out successfully.

But the general opinion of all but Mr.Bennett and Mr.Arcane and their families was, as expressed by one of them:--"If those boys ever get out of this cussed hole, they are d----d fools if they ever come back to help anybody." Some did not stay more than a week after we were gone, but took their oxen and blankets and started on.

They could not be content to stay idly in camp with nothing to occupy their minds or bodies.

They could see that an ox when killed would feed them only a few days, and that they could not live long on them, and it stood them in hand to get nearer the western shore as the less distance the more hope while the meat lasted.
Bennett implored them to stay as he was sure we would come back, and if the most of them deserted him he would be exposed to the danger of the Indians, with no hope of a successful resistance against them.
But the most seemed to think that to stay was to die, and it would be better to die trying to escape than to set idly down to perish.

These men seemed to think their first duty was to save themselves, and if fortunate, help others afterward, so they packed their oxen and left in separate parties, the last some two weeks before.