Kit Carson joined the two traders, whose names were Thompson and Sinclair, and made the trip with them which they had planned.  They realized very handsomely from it, bringing back a large drove of very fine mules.  The animals were driven to the Fort on the South Fork of the Platte, where they were disposed of at fair prices.  Having received his share of the profits, Kit returned again to Brown’s Hole.  The season was too far gone for him to think of joining another trapping expedition that fall.  He therefore began to look about for some suitable employment for the winter.  As soon as it became known that his services were open for an engagement, several offers were made him, all of which he rejected.  The reader will doubtless see a contrast between the Kit Carson renowned as a trapper and hunter and the Kit Carson who, at Taos, only a few years before, was glad to hire out as a cook, in order to gain his daily sustenance.  For some time, strong inducements of high wages had been held out to him by the occupants of the Fort, in order to prevail upon him to accept the responsible and arduous office of Hunter to the Fort.  The task of supplying, by the aid of the rifle, all the flesh twenty men would naturally consume during an entire winter, formed the duty required and expected from this officer.  The inducements were so tempting, the task so congenial with his feelings, and, withal, the urgent persuasions of the men so pressing, that Kit Carson finally accepted the offer and entered upon his duties.  He soon showed the company that he knew his business, and could perform it with an ease and certainty which failed not to elicit universal esteem and commendation.  When the time arrived for him to resign the office in the Spring, he left behind him golden opinions of his skill as a marksman.

CHAPTER VI.

Bridger and Carson trapping on the Black Hills—­The Main Camp—­The Rendezvous—­Winter Quarters on the Yellow Stone—­Carson with forty men in a desperate fight with the Blackfeet Indians—­A Council—­Sentinel posted—­One Thousand Warriors come to punish the Trappers—­The War Dance—­The Courage of the Savages deserts them—­Winter Quarters—­The Spring Hunt—­Another Fight with the Blackfeet—­Continued Annoyances—­The Trappers abandon the Country—­The Rocky Mountains and Alps compared—­Other Trapping Expeditions—­Beaver becoming scarce—­Prices of Fur reduced—­Kit Carson and the Trappers give up their Vocation—­The Journey to Bent’s Fort—­Mitchell the Mountaineer—­His Eccentricities.

In the spring, Kit Carson joined Bridger.  With four companions they went to the Black Hills to hunt.  In the streams adjacent to that country, the beaver existed in large numbers and their success in trapping was excellent.

Soon after arriving, however, the party broke up.  Kit Carson and a trapper named Owens made a hunt by themselves and were very fortunate in obtaining a large stock of the fur.  After which they joined the main camp of the trappers on Green River.  When the summer was pretty well advanced, the camp was broken up and all of its occupants started for the Rendezvous, this year held on the Popoayhi, a branch of the Wind River.