about eight dollars per pound.

After an absence of three or four weeks, young Carson would return with
his treasures, often several hundred dollars in value, to the rendezvous
of Mr. Ewing Young at Taos. Soon again he would set out on another similar
expedition. Thus Carson passed the winter of 1827.




CHAPTER III.

Among the Trappers.

The Discomfited Trappers.--The New Party Organized.--A Battle
with the Indians.--Trapping on the Colorado.--March to the
Sacramento.--The Friendly Indians.--Crossing the
Desert.--Instinct of the Mule.--The Enchanting Valley of the
Colorado.--The Mission of San Gabriel.--Vast Herds of
Cattle.--The Mission of San Fernando.--Adventures in the Valley
of San Joaquin.--The Meeting of two Trapping Bands.--Reasons for
Kit Carson's Celebrity.--A Military Expedition.--The Indian Horse
Thieves.--The Pursuit and Capture.


Soon after Carson returned to the cabin of Mr. Young from one of his
trapping expeditions, a party of trappers came back who had set out to
explore the valley of the Colorado, in pursuit of furs. At Taos they were
west of the Rocky mountains, and the route which they were to take led
them still farther in a northwest direction, a distance of three or four