counterchanges Kit had not been idle. He had picked up considerable
knowledge, and, to his other stock of accomplishments, had added the
ability to speak the Spanish language.

On arriving once more at Santa Fé, he fell in with Col. Tramell, who
was at that time a well-known trader. Col Tramell needed a Spanish
interpreter. Kit obtained the post, and set out with him for
Chihuahua, one of the Mexican States. Here again Kit made a change in
his employment. In Chihuahua he fell in with Mr. Robert McKnight.
To him he hired out as a teamster, and in this capacity went to the
copper mines which are found near to the Rio Gila. Amid the weary
necessities of this humble but honorable calling, Kit's heart was
constantly alive with ambition to become a hunter and trapper. He knew
that he was expert with the rifle, which had been his boyish toy, and
felt confident that he could rely upon it as an assistant to gain an
honest living. His constant thought at this time was, let him now be
engaged in whatever calling chance offered and necessity caused him
to accept, the final pursuit of his life would be as a hunter and
trapper. Here, then, is presented a fair example of the strife, both
inward and outward, through which a young man of courage and ambition
must expect to pass before he can win position, influence, and the
comforts of life, whatever the scene of his action, or whatever the
choice of employment suitable to his talent and genius. Kit Carson
was determined, no matter what might be the obstacles which presented
themselves, to be a hunter and trapper.

The reader will have made a sad mistake if he has concluded, that
during the time which has intervened since Kit started from Missouri,
he has been roaming in a country where there was less danger than when
he was in the picketed fort with his father. Such a supposition would