Bateman then came back around the end of the hill that separated the two camps.

His proposal had been gratefully accepted.

The besieged emigrants were in desperate straits; their dead were unburied in the narrow enclosure, and they were suffering greatly for want of water.
Major Higbee, in command of the militia, now directed Lee to enter the camp and see that the plan was carried out.

With him went two men with wagons.

Lee was to have them load their weapons into one wagon, to separate the adults from the children and wounded, who were to be put into the other, and then march the party out.
As Lee approached the corral its occupants swarmed out to meet him,--gaunt men, unkempt women and children, with the look of hunted animals in their eyes.