They seemed to think they had this advantage of me, that they could swear and I could not.
We were now traveling up the valley of the Platte River.

It was the month of June.

The weather had become rainy and there were frequent showers.

One night we had corralled our train on an almost dead level bottom, and I was sure, from the appearance of the heavens, that we should have a storm.Bro.Butcher had been taken sick and had returned home, and, except myself, there were none to think or care what was coming; and yet it was plain to be seen that the air was thick and sultry, and the heavens overcast with clouds, and that everything betokened a tempest.

Our canvas-covered wagons had been so crowded with merchandise that we could not get into them, and we had slept on blankets on the ground; but here on this dead level bottom, in case of a heavy rain, we would be drowned out by the flooding of the ground.