We killed the ox saving the blood to cook.

Cutting the meat all off the bones, we had it drying over a fire as soon as possible, except what we needed for this meal and the next.

Then we made a smooth place in the soft sand on which to spread the blankets, the first good place we had found to sleep since leaving Death Valley.
The next job was to make moccassins for ourselves and for the oxen, for it was plain they could not go on another day barefooted.

We kept busy indeed, attending the fires under the meat and under the kettle, besides our shoemaking, and were getting along nicely about sundown, when Old Christian Crump appeared in sight followed by the women and the rest of the party.

The women were just as tired as ever and dropped down on the blankets the first thing.