" Those who
were in the company thought Wm. G. Murphy could not possibly walk, but
when all had gone, and Hook was dead, and no alternative remained but to
walk or die, he did walk. It took him two days to go barefooted over the
snow to Mule Springs, a journey which the others had made in one day.
The agony which he endured during that trip can better be imagined than
described. Nothing but an indomitable will could have sustained him
during those two days.
All the members of this relief party suffered greatly, and several came
near perishing. Little James F. Reed, Jr., was too small to step in the
tracks made by the older members of the party. In order to travel with
the rest he had to partly use his knees in walking. When one foot was in
a track he would place the other knee on the untrodden snow, and was
thus enabled to put his foot in the next track. John Denton was left
with a good fire, and when last seen was reclining smoking, on a bed of
freshly gathered pine boughs. He looked so comfortable that the little
timid boy James begged hard to be allowed to remain with him. Mrs. Reed
had hard work to coax him to come. Among other things, she promised that
when he reached California he should have a horse "all for himself," and
that he should never have to walk any more. This promise was literally
fulfilled.
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