Occasionally his memory would not solve the question, what is the next course?  He had neither map, chart, nor compass, and depended entirely upon old landmarks.  Occasionally, the resemblance of different mountains, one to another, would serve to embarrass him.  For a time, he would become doubtful as to the exact course to pursue.  At such moments, the mischievous dispositions of the men would get the better of their judgment, and they would exert their lungs in shouting to him, as he spurred his riding animal to keep out of the sound of their raillery.  He was not always successful in this, and occasionally a few sentences reached him like the following: 

“Hurrah!”

“I say! are you the famous Kit Carson, who knows this country so well?”

“Are you really a good pilot, or are you lost?”

These and similar expressions saluted Kit’s ear—­a language to which he had not been heretofore accustomed—­as some impediment, such as a fallen tree, a rock, a swamp, or a creek staid, for a brief period, his progress, thus allowing the party to approach within speaking distance.  The remarks might have temporarily chafed his spirit; but, he had too much good sense to allow his friends to see that they had gained any advantage over him.  He rode boldly on, and answered their raillery with silence.  He knew, however, very well, that his turn would come; and, when he had brought them in safety to a spot with which all were familiar, he turned the tables on them by retorting to their questions in a playful manner, which made their future interpretation of his occasional doubts, less sweeping in its conclusions.

Kit succeeded in guiding the party safely to the Copper Mines, from whence their route was plain.  From the Copper Mines the party traveled through to the Rio del Norte.  This river is 1,800 miles in length and forms the boundary line between Texas and Mexico.  It takes its rise in the Rocky Mountains and empties into the Gulf of Mexico.  It is navigable for small steamers, sloops and schooners, for a distance of about four hundred and fifty miles from its mouth.  About nine hundred miles from its mouth, there is a spot where the river is only about three or four feet deep.  Here the Apache and Camanche Indians always cross when on their depredatory tramps into Mexico.

Leaving the Rio Grande or del Norte, the party pursued their homeward route through the settlements of the Rio Abajo and Santa Fe and finally reached Taos on the twenty-third day of December, 1853.

Soon after the party entered the Territory of New Mexico, Kit Carson accidentally met the Mormon delegate to Congress.  That person informed Kit Carson that the appointment of an Indian Agent had been conferred upon him.