Scouting with Kit Carson

ons both men halted and looked keenly in

your camp was

on the plains. Both were silent until they arrived at the place they were seeking. Then, a

you s

euben positively after

your fri

yself," responded Reuben, as he peere

o about it?" inquired Ra

he was unconscious of the presence of his companion. "He isn't a man likel

d they carr

rotested Reuben, as once more he examined

have put u

's strange. The ponies are gone. There isn't a sig

ver. I've got to look after my own job. I usually find that if I ever have anything

ated Reuben, almost as if he had n

my milkin' pail and go out and sit down in the middle of the pasture, pretty soon the cows would all come up and ask me to milk them

ickly, as he turned and faced his comp

u say; I have y

ely controlled his anger and did not respo

e we started, or do you want to go on alone? I shan't let you have that pony if you don't go back with me

rough declaration, for he was yet un

he turned his horse about so that he fac

with you," sai

, then, co

t they had not gone far before Rat insisted upo

ut Kit Carson a spel

es

at is his name anyway? Wh

isto

all him Kit

es

all me Rat inst

Rat was your real

e is of it when my mother speaks to me. Speak

of t

ever talk

es

me abo

s evident that the request of his compani

n I ever saw," he dec

big

say biggest, I

difference?"

rastus was rapidly becoming one of disgust. The man was so blatant and boastful that the re

come from?"

that his father moved to the backwoods

old i

hink he is about t

he?" laughed Rat. "Do you

id Reuben

e him in my hands and crack him the way I wou

I am, and he is light. His voice is as soft as a girl's. Any one might thi

n't

uarrel with him would wish that he had grabbed a griz

ore about him,"

d with him and asked him a good many times to tel

owards. They don't say anythi

ow one of the trappers that had come in with his skins let him pull the trigger of his gun. That was the first time Kit had ever fired a rifle, but he wanted to keep at it, he liked it so well, and pretty soon he not only learned to shoot, but he became the best shot in the neighbourhood. The Indians all liked him and they told him a great many things about the woods and the animals that live there. You see, when his father first went

to trapping

of a party that was going to start for Santa Fé. You see, then there were

the trails, and now they try to make 'em plain. The redskins know every time a par

tricks of the Indians. I have seen them start out, every man wearing a deerskin suit, and some of the men all dressed up with bead embroidery, and the fringes of their shirts dyed half a dozen different colours. They had pack mules to carry the traps, and when they all started they marched

e heard a good many stories about Kit Cars

e arm. Pretty soon the others decided that the only way for the poor chap to save his life was to have his arm cut off. I do

over it?" demande

that the buffaloes had made, and never once dropped behind. When the party finally got to Santa Fé Kit Carson decided that he would not

heard," a

ow streets had mud huts along their sides and that water was pretty scar

o's

in in the Rocky Mountains. He knew all about the wild beasts and the places where the beaver

t, didn't he?

en he decided that he would go back home and start out trapping on his own account. So he joined a party of trappers that were going East and started to go home, but