of this train was an alarming one. It was the duty of
Captain Cook and his soldiers to guard it as far as the fording of the
Arkansas, at that time the boundary line between the two countries.
There was good reason for believing that a strong band of Texan rangers
were waiting beyond, with the intention of attacking and plundering the
train. Indeed the Mexican who had it in charge had received information
that left no possible doubt of the fact.

His face lighted up when he recognized Kit Carson. Hardly waiting until
they had greeted each other, he offered him a liberal reward if he
would ride post haste to Santa Fe and deliver a letter to the Governor,
containing an urgent request to send a strong force to escort the train
thither.

Carson unhesitatingly accepted the offer and with his usual promptness
started almost immediately on his delicate and dangerous business. The
journey was one of several hundred miles through a country swarming with
Indians, and all the skill, cunning and vigilance of the great scout
would be required to succeed. But he never faltered in the face of
peril.

A veteran mountaineer agreed to keep him company, but, when Bent's Fort
was reached he refused to go further, and Carson, as he had often done
before in critical situations, went on alone.

The news which he heard at the fort was of a startling nature. The Utah
Indians were hostile and his long journey led him directly through their
country. He could not censure his friend for declining to go further,
nor could he blame others whom he asked to accompany him, when they
shook their heads. Mr. Bent understood the peculiar danger in which Kit
would be placed, and though he was splendidly mounted, he loaned him a
magnificent steed which he led, ready to mount whenever the necessity
should arise for doing so.

That journey was one of the most remarkable of the many made by Kit
Carson. It would have been less so, had he possessed a companion of
experience, for they could have counselled together, and one would have
kept watch while the other slept. As it was, Carson was compelled to
scan every portion of the plain before him, on the constant lookout for
Indians, who would have spared no effort to circumvent and slay him, had
they known of his presence in their country. He was so placed, indeed,
that only by the most consummate skill could he hope to run the
continuous gauntlet, hundreds of miles in length.

He had gone but a short distanc