What she found there confirmed the worst.

The base camp had also been struck.

The men there were dead.

The camp had been looted.

A few knives and some hides remained.

She took what she could carry: the knives, some hides, whatever food remained.

Then she loaded her sons onto the horse and turned west.

The choice of direction was the first and most important navigational decision of what would become a three-month winter survival journey.