able to intercept the Captain,
the Lieutenant selected two of his best men and sent them ahead with the
despatches. He begged Fremont to forward him assistance, as he doubted
his ability to reach him without such help.

But the most startling news brought to camp was that war had been
declared between the United States and Mexico. When Fremont had read his
despatches from his Government, he appreciated the imminent danger in
which the Lieutenant was placed, and, without any tarrying, perfected
measures for his rescue.

He immediately selected ten of his men, Carson, as a matter of course
being among them, and pushed on with all haste, leaving directions for
the rest to follow as rapidly as they could.

Fremont and his little company had journeyed something over fifty miles
when they met the officer and his companions. The meeting was of the
happiest nature, for the Lieutenant, in fact, was in greater danger than
he suspected, the Indians around him being among the most treacherous of
their race.

Those who have been placed in a situation resembling in a slight degree
that of Fremont, can appreciate the interest with which he perused the
letters and papers from his distant home. After the parties had gone
into camp, the Captain sat up till after midnight reading by the light
of the camp fire. Tired out at last, he stretched out with his blanket
about him and sank soon into heavy slumber.

The night was cold, and Carson and Owens, with their saddle blankets
wrapped around them, lay down close to the fire. All at once Carson
heard a peculiar noise, as though some one had struck a quick blow
with an axe. Wondering what it could mean, he called to one of the
mountaineers.

"What's the matter over there?"

There was no answer, for the head of the poor fellow had been cleft by
an axe in the hands of one of the Klamath Indians who had crept into
camp. A Delaware had already been killed by the treacherous redskins,
that night being the second among all those spent in the west, when the
explorers had no sentinel on duty.

Carson and Owens called out "Indians!" and springing to their feet,
hurried away from the fire whose strong light was sure to tempt the aim
of their enemies.

One of the other Delawares who leaped to his feet snatched up the
nearest rifle which unfortunately was not his own, and was unloaded.
Unaware of the fact, he tried to fire it over again and again, without
suspecting the cause, while a Klamath