These were halcyon days, and abundant was the harvest of game which these bold reapers were gathering.  During the days thus spent, in shooting the game and curing the meat, the hunters lived upon the fat of the land.  The tongue and liver of the buffalo, and the peculiar fat, found along the spine are deemed great delicacies.

In a few days a sufficient supply had been obtained to load all their pack animals.  So heavily were they laden that their homeward journey was very slow.  They were followed by a foe, of whom they had not the slightest conception.  A band of Blackfeet Indians had discerned them from the far distance with their keen eyes.  Keeping carefully concealed, they watched every movement of the unconscious hunters.  When the party commenced its return they dogged their steps; in the darkness creeping near their encampment at night, watching for an opportunity to stampede their animals and to rob them of their treasure.  Though Kit Carson had no suspicion that any savages were on his trail, his constitutional caution baffled all their cunning.

The fort was reached in safety, and the abundance which they brought was hailed with rejoicing.  The party of hunters encamped just outside the pickets of the fort, where there was good pasturage for their animals, and where they could watch them.  The inmates of the fort had fenced in a large field or barnyard which they called a corral.  Into this yard at night they drove their animals, from the prairie, and placed a guard over them.  At any time a band of savages might, like an apparition, come shrieking down upon the animals to bear them away in the terrors of a stampede, or might silently, in midnight gloom, steal towards them and lead them noiselessly away one by one.

Two or three nights after the arrival of the hunters at the fort, all the horses and mules were driven, as usual, into the enclosure; the bars were put up and a sentinel was placed on duty.  It so happened that the sentinel, that night, was an inexperienced hand; a new comer, not familiar with the customs of the fort.  He was stationed, at a slight distance from the enclosure, where he could watch all its approaches, and give the alarm should any band of Indians appear.  He supposed that a large, well mounted band alone would attempt the hazardous enterprise of capturing the animals.

The latter part of the night, just before the dawn of the morning, he saw two men advance, without any disguise, deliberately let down the bars and drive out the horses and mules.  He supposed them to be two of the inmates of the fort or some of his own companions, who were authorized to take out the herd to graze upon the prairie.  Concluding therefore that he was relieved from duty, he returned to his camp and was soon fast asleep.

In the morning the horses and mules had all disappeared.  They were nowhere to be seen.  There was hurrying to and fro, for a solution of the mystery, when a short investigation revealed the true state of affairs.  The cunning Indians had come in a strong party, well mounted, and were concealed at a short distance.  Two of their number had gone forward and driven out the animals.  The horses and mules are always ready to rush along with any herd leading them.