in this camp for that eventful
night; but instead, the men selected positions behind neighboring
trees and fallen logs, and were ready to receive the enemy should they
see fit to visit them again.

The Indians, however, as Kit Carson predicted, had come to the wise
conclusion not to attempt so unsatisfactory a business as another
attack, for the grey light of the following day came without their
reappearance. Before the sun had fairly risen, Fremont had broken
up this camp, which had become odious to the men from its unpleasant
associations. With their packs, and with the bodies of their dead
companions, the party started to find their rear guard. They had
proceeded about ten miles on their journey, when, by unanimous
consent, they resolved to halt and inter the remains, which they had
wished to carry until they united their forces, so that all could
participate in the funeral rites; but, the woods through which they
were traveling were very thick, and already the bodies had become
greatly disfigured, on account of their frequently striking against
the trees, as they were fastened on the backs of three animals.

Slowly and sadly, in that dense forest, hundreds of miles from their
nearest countrymen, was this funeral procession formed. A spot was
selected on one side of the main trail, at a distance of about one
half mile, where a rude grave was dug, and, wrapped in their blankets,
in the same common house, were deposited all that remained of these
three brave men. An observer of these obsequies, would have seen the
lips of daring men, now and then, giving spasmodic twitchings; eyes
swimming in tears, and a silence and solemnity that bespoke the truest
kind of grief. Among that party, such a one would have been sure to
have marked out the countenance of Kit Carson; for, engraven on it
were the throes which were troubling his kind heart on being thus
obliged to separate from old friends. Not a man left that grave, but
who resolved, secretly and silently, to make these dastardly Indians
suffer for the lives they had thus wantonly taken. In fact, they felt
it an imperative duty they yet owed to their departed comrades; who,
if they but stood in their places, would have sworn to be avenged;
hence, the reader must not judge them harshly if they nourished these
feelings.

That very day the two parties met and went into camp together. Plans
were concocted to chastise the red men soundly. The next day, on
quitting this last