In its very bottom we found a small stream of water only a few yards long, and then it sank into the sands.

Not a spear of grass grew there, and if any had grown it had been eaten by the cattle which had gone before.

This was the same place, where Rogers and I had overtaken the advance portion of the Jayhawkers when we were on our outward trip in search of relief, and where some of the older men were so discouraged that they gave us their home addresses in Illinois so that we could notify their friends of their precarious situation, and if they were never otherwise heard from they could be pretty sure they had perished from thirst and starvation when almost at their journey's end.
The scenes of this camp on that occasion made so strong an impression on my memory that I can never forget it.

There were poor dependent fellows without a morsel to eat except such bits of poor meat as they could beg from those who were fortunate enough to own oxen.

Their tearful pleadings would soften a heart of stone.