The noon halt lasted from one to two hours and the afternoon's march ended a short time before sunset.

The tents were then pitched, horses hobbled and turned out to graze, and the evening meal prepared.

When it became dark, all the animals were brought in and picketed, the carts arranged so as to serve as barricades and guard mounted.
An Indian guide conducted the expedition for the first forty miles along the Kansas, when he departed and the responsibility was turned over to Carson.

The pilot had guided the steamer out of the harbor and upon the great ocean, and henceforth the hand of Carson was to be at the helm.
The soil over which they journeyed for many miles was of the most fertile character.

Numbers of Indian farms were seen, and one could not but reflect on the possibilities of the future for the red man, who should abandon war and give his energies to the cultivation of the ground.
Such an expedition could not go far without a taste of the trials that awaited them.