At this time I
was living in the log-cabin with the fireplace. One night I was awakened
by a scratching sound over my head. I started up in terror, and listened
intently for the noise to be repeated. It came again. It was the wolves
trying to get into the cabin to eat me and the dead bodies."
"At midnight, one cold, bitter night, Mrs. George Donner came to my
door. It was about two weeks after Reed had gone, and my loneliness was
beginning to be unendurable. I was most happy to her the sound of a
human voice. Her coming was like that of an angel from heaven. But she
had not come to bear me company. Her husband had died in her arms. She
had remained by his side until death came, and then had laid him out and
hurried away. He died at nightfall, and she had traveled over the snow
alone to my cabin. She was going, alone, across the mountains. She was
going to start without food or guide. She kept saying, 'My children! I
must see my children!' She feared he would not survive, and told me she
had some money in her tent. It was too heavy for her to carry. She said,
'Mr. Keseberg, I confide this to your care.' She made me promise
sacredly that I would get the money and take it to her children in case
she perished and I survived. She declared she would start over the
mountains in the morning.
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