"They're less likely to come here now, so it seems to me the best thing we can do is to lay up here and wait for some teams comin' west.

There'll be news of some kind along one way or the other, before so very long." So now we, the living, took up our places almost upon the bodies of the dead, after giving these the best interment possible.

We hobbled and side-lined our horses, and kept our guards both day and night; and so we lay here for three days.
The third day passed until the sun sank toward the sand dunes, and cast a long path of light across the rippling shallows among the sand bars of the Platte; but still we saw no signs of newcomers.

Evening was approaching when we heard the sound of a distant shot, and turning saw our horse-guard, who had been stationed at the top of a bluff near by, start down the slope, running toward the camp.

As he approached he pointed, and we looked down the valley toward the east.
Surely enough, we saw a faint cloud of dust coming toward us, whether of vehicles or horsemen we could not tell.