I sat down and wrote two more letters home, once more stating that I was not starting east, but going still farther west.

This done, I tried to persuade myself to feel no further uneasiness, and to content my mind with the sense of duty done.
Auberry, as it chanced, fell in with a party bound for Denver, five men who had two wagons, a heavy Conestoga freight wagon, or prairie schooner, and a lighter vehicle without a cover.

We arranged with these men, and their cook as to our share in the mess box, and so threw in our dunnage with theirs, Auberry and I purchasing us a good horse apiece.

By noon of the next day we were on our way westward, Auberry himself now much content.
"The settlements for them that likes 'em," said he.

"For me, there's nothing like the time when I start west, with a horse under me, and run _au large_, as the French traders say.