getting to be monotonous.

The reader will understand that in those early days we had only
muzzle-loading guns, and for every one of those we had to have a
pair of bullet-moulds the size of the rifle, and before starting
out on an expedition it was necessary to mould enough bullets to
last several weeks, if not the entire trip, and when you realize
that almost any time we were liable to get into a "scrap" with the
Indians, you can understand that it required a great number of
these little leaden missiles to accommodate the red brethren, as
well as to meet other uses.

That evening after I had gone to bed, Mr. Hughes said:

"Kit, what are you going to do with that boy?"

"What boy?" asked Uncle Kit, as if he were astonished.

"Why, Willie. What are you going to do with him while we are away
trapping?"

"Why, take him along to help us, of course."

"Thunderation!" exclaimed Hughes; "he will only be a bother to us
in the mountains."

I had been with Kit Carson three months, and this was the first
time I had seen him, apparently, out of humor. But at Hughes' last
remark, he said in a decidedly angry tone: