As agreed, Ashley had sent provisions for the rendezvous, and his men took back of Smith, Jackson & Sublette furs and a letter from Smith to William Clark, then in the office of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the region west of the Mississippi River, describing what he had observed the previous year. Smith left to rejoin the men he had left in California almost immediately after the rendezvous. He was accompanied by 18 men and two French-Canadian women, following much of the same route as the previous year. However, in the ensuing year, the Mojave along the Colorado River who had been so welcoming the previous year had clashed with trappers from Taos and were set on revenge against the whites. While crossing the river, Smith's party was attacked; 10 men, including Silas Gobel, were killed, and the two women were taken captive. Smith and the eight surviving men, one badly wounded from the fighting, prepared to make a desperate stand on the west bank of the Colorado, having made a makeshift breast work out of trees and fashioned lances by attaching butcher knives to light poles. The men still had five guns among them, and as the Mojave began to approach, Smith ordered his men to fire on those within range. Two Mojaves were shot and killed, one was wounded, and the remaining attackers ran off. Before the Mojave could regroup, Smith and eight other surviving men retreated on foot across the Mojave Desert on the Mohave Trail to the San Bernardino Valley.