A still more popular story had it that a party of several Englishmen had hurried ahead on the trail to excite all the savages to waylay and destroy the caravans, thus to wreak the vengeance of England upon the Yankees for the loss of Oregon.

Much unrest arose over reports, hard to trace, to the effect that it was all a mistake about Oregon; that in reality it was a truly horrible country, unfit for human occupancy, and sure to prove the grave of any lucky enough to survive the horrors of the trail, which never yet had been truthfully reported.

Some returned travelers from the West beyond the Rockies, who were hanging about the landing at the river, made it all worse by relating what purported to be actual experiences.
"If you ever get through to Oregon," they said, "you'll be ten years older than you are now.

Your hair will be white, but not by age." The Great Dipper showed clear and close that night, as if one might almost pick off by hand the familiar stars of the traveler's constellation.

Overhead countless brilliant points of lesser light enameled the night mantle, matching the many camp fires of the great gathering.