young as Carson was, he acquitted himself in a manner which won
the warmest praise of those with him. He was unquestionably daring,
skilful and sagacious, and was certain, if his life was spared, to
become one of the most valuable members of the party.

Having driven the savages away, the Americans began or rather
resumed their regular business of trapping. The beavers were so
abundant that they met with great success. When the rodents seemed
to diminish in number, the hunters shifted their quarters, pursuing
their profession along the numerous streams until it was decided
to divide into two parties, one of which returned to New Mexico,
while the other pushed on toward the Sacramento Valley in California.
Carson accompanied the latter, entering the region at that early day
when no white man dreamed of the vast wealth of gold and precious
metals which so crowded her soil and river beds that the wonder
is the gleaming particles had not been detected many years before;
but, as the reader knows, they lay quietly at rest until that
eventful day in 1848, when the secret was revealed by Captain
Sutter's raceway and the frantic multitudes flocked thither from
the four quarters of the earth.



CHAPTER II.


California -- Sufferings of the Hunters -- The Mission of San
Gabriel -- The Hudson Bay Trappers -- Characteristics of Carson
-- He Leads the Party which Captures an Indian Village and Secures
some Criminals.