The caravan was disintegrating at the start.

The gloom cast by the long delay at the ford had now resolved itself in certain instances into fear amounting half to panic.

Some companies of neighbors said the entire train should wait for the military escort; others declared they would not go further west, but would turn back and settle here, where the soil was so good.
Still others said they all should lie here, with good grass and water, until further word came from the Platte Valley train and until they had more fully decided what to do.

In spite of all the officers could do, the general advance was strung out over two or three miles.

The rapid loss in order, these premature divisions of the train, augured ill enough.
The natural discomforts of the trail now also began to have their effect.