As merchants, not trappers, they marched, without any delay, down White river, forded Green river, and struck across the country to Windy river.  Ascending its windings, they reached the camp of Mr. Robidoux, who, with twenty men in his employ, was there setting his traps.  They had scarcely arrived at the encampment, when snow began to fall, and an early winter seemed to be setting in.  It was deemed expedient for the united party to establish winter quarters there.  They erected very comfortable lodges, of buffalo skins, quite impervious to wind and rain, and made everything snug for a mountain home.  They had food in abundance, ample materials for making and repairing their clothing, and when gathered around their bright and warm camp-fires seemed to be in want of nothing.

Attached to Mr. Robidoux’s company there was an Indian of great strength and agility, in whom much confidence was reposed.  He had become very expert with the rifle, and had shrewdly studied all the white man’s modes of attack and defence.  Horses were in this remote region very valuable.  They could not easily be obtained, and were indispensable to transport the furs.  They were worth two hundred dollars each.

This Indian, one night, selected six of the fleetest horses, and mounting one and leading the rest, with his stolen property, disappeared over the trackless waste.  It was a sum total loss of twelve hundred dollars.  But the immediate pecuniary loss was not all, for the horses could not easily be replaced, and without them all the movements of the trapping party were greatly crippled.  Mr. Robidoux, knowing Kit Carson’s reputation for sagacity and courage, immediately applied to him to pursue the Indian.  It was just one of those difficult and hazardous enterprises which was congenial to the venturous spirit of Carson.

There was a friendly tribe of Indians in the vicinity, in which there was a young warrior whose chivalric spirit had won the confidence and regard of Carson.  This young man was easily induced to join him in the chase.  But a short time was required for preparation.  Grasping their rifles, and taking their blankets, they each mounted a fine horse and set out in pursuit of the fugitive, who had several hours the start of them.  The wary thief had so successfully concealed the direction of his flight that it took them some time to discover his trail.  Having at length found it, they set off, at the highest speed which they felt that their animals could endure.  Over soft ground, the marks left by six horses, running in one compact band, could be without difficulty followed.  But at times the nature of the soil was such that but a very indistinct imprint of their footprints was left.

As the thief, in his flight, conscious that he might be overtaken, would make no difference between day and night, it was necessary that his pursuers should also press on without allowing darkness to delay them.  This added greatly to the difficulty of following the trail.  But the sagacity of Carson and his intelligent Indian comrade triumphed over all these obstacles.  For one hundred miles they followed the fugitive with unerring precision.  But now they encountered a serious calamity.