of the frozen circle, and until a recent date hunted through Oregon.

The two parties were rivals in business, but they showed excellent
sense by meeting on good terms and treating each other as friends.
They trapped near each other until they came to the Sacramento once
more, when they parted company. The Hudson Bay trappers started
for the Columbia River, while the one to which Carson was attached
went into camp where they were for the rest of the summer. With
the approach of warm weather the trapping season ended and they
devoted themselves to hunting and making ready for cold weather.

It will be borne in mind that Kit Carson was still a youth, not
having reached his majority. He was of short, compact stature, no
more than five feet, six inches tall, with light brown hair, gray
eyes, large head, high forehead, broad shoulders, full chest,
strong and possessing remarkable activity. Even at that early age,
he had impressed the veteran hunters and trappers around him as
one possessing such remarkable abilities, that, if his life was
spared, he was certain to become a man of mark. If we should attempt
to specify the particular excellencies in which he surpassed those
around him, it would be said that while Carson was one of the most
fearless men who lived, yet he possessed splendid judgment. He
seemed to know instinctively what could be accomplished by himself
and friends in positions of extreme peril, and he saw on the moment
precisely how to do that which often was impossible to others.

His knowledge of woodcraft and the peculiarities of the savage
tribes around him was as perfect as it could be. He was a matchless
hunter, and no man could handle a rifle with greater skill. The
wilderness, the mountains, the Indians, the wild animals -- these