He said that there was not a country in the world equal to California, and it would be vastly better for those who wanted to find new homes to find them there, or in some other portion of the far west, rather than to go to South America. As for Johnston, he said that he would not take his own family to Venezuela until he had looked at the country himself, and it was doubtful whether he would then.
The poor people whom Johnston had enlisted in his scheme, however, had their hearts set upon going to Venezuela, and nowhere else; and though my heart ached at the disappointment, and perhaps severe suffering that was in store for them, I saw that it was useless to attempt to turn them from their purpose. They had their new homes all pictured in their imaginations, and Venezuela appeared to them like a second Garden of Eden, where all was peace, happiness, and prosperity, with no free negroes or carpet-baggers to intrude upon them.
Many of this band of emigrants were most* estimable people; but, as I speedily discovered, there were some worthless ones among them, and I dreaded, more and more, the execution of the task I had set myself to do. Having, however, announced my intention of going, and having excited the expectations of my friends, I concluded that it would not do to back out, and so determined to go through with the thing, no matter what the consequences might be.
Among the emigrants who had enlisted in Johnston's band was a young Confederate officer, Major Wasson. He was a remarkably fine-looking man, with long, wavy, flaxen hair, which he wore brushed off his forehead, blue eyes, and fair complexion. The day before going over to Algiers with Johnston I had seen him on one of the street cars, and was very much struck with him. At Algiers I had some conversation with him, and invited him to call on me at the hotel. This he did; and I discovered that he was a stranger to all the rest of the band of emigrants, that he was anxious to get out of the country, and that, attracted by Johnston's representations, he had resolved to go to Venezuela with his expedition.
After that I saw a great deal of Major Wasson, and a strong attachment sprang up between us. A few days before we were to sail, he asked me to accept his hand, and I did so willingly; for not only did I admire him greatly, but I it would be better in every way that I should accompany the expedition as a married woman.
