ging work that they met a trader
belonging to the Hudson Bay Company. He had been pushing operations in
every direction, but the stories he told were of the same general tenor
as those of the larger party. He had been as unsuccessful in the way of
trade as they had been in catching the fur bearing animals.

The Hudson Bay trader, however, was confident he could succeed where
they had failed, and he made such liberal offers to Carson that he and
several of his companions accepted them on the spot.

The first point which they visited was the Humboldt River, from which
had come reports of the abundance of beavers. They began near the head
waters of the stream, and carefully trapped down to the Great Basin.
Meeting with only moderate success, they made their way to Big Snake
River. After remaining there a considerable time, the party divided,
the Hudson Bay trader and his friends going northward toward Fort Walla
Walla, while Carson and the larger number set out for Fort Hall.

The journey thither was one of the most distressing which Kit Carson
ever undertook. The country through which most of the march led is one
of the most dismal wastes on the American continent. Except in extent, a
journey across it is similar to that of the parched caravans across the
flaming sands of Sahara. Carson and his companions were accustomed to
all manner of privations, but more than once their endurance was tried
to the utmost point.

The trappers had gathered some nutritious roots upon which they managed
to subsist for a time, but these soon gave out, and their situation grew
desperate. When almost famishing they bled their mules and drank the
warm current. They would have killed one of the animals, but for the
fact that they could not spare it, and, as there was no calculating how
long the others would last, they were afraid to take the step, which was
likely to cripple them fatally.

This strange source of nourishment served them for the time, but a
repetition would endanger the lives of their animals, who were also in
sore straits, inasmuch as the grass was not only poor but very scanty.
Matters rapidly grew worse, and soon became so desperate that Carson
said they would have to kill one of their animals or else lie down and
perish themselves.

At this trying crisis, they discovered a band of Indians approaching.
Perhaps the hapless situation in which all were placed left no room for
enmity, for the red men showed a friendly dispos