ld only give judgment from
an imaginary stand-point, must strike the heart of true sympathy
as having been painful in no ordinary degree. After every possible
argument had been offered in favor of saving the arm, the final
decision of the council was that it must come off. The next difficulty
which presented itself was quite as formidable as the expression of
a correct judgment. Who should perform the office of surgeon, was the
knotty question? Again the consultations became exciting and intensely
painful. The members of the council, however, took it upon themselves
to designate the persons, and chose Carson with two others. These
immediately set at work to execute their sad but necessary task. The
arrangements were all hastily, but carefully made, and the cutting
begun. The instruments used were a razor, an old saw; and, to arrest
the hemorrhage, the king bolt taken from one of the wagons was heated
and applied to serve as an actual cautery. The operation, rudely
performed, with rude instruments, by unpractised hands, excited to
action only by the spur of absolute necessity, proved, nevertheless,
entirely successful. Before the caravan arrived at Santa Fe the
patient had so far recovered that he was able to take care of himself.

Besides this unfortunate affair, nothing worthy of note transpired,
beyond the general record of their route, during the remainder of
their journey. The latter would be too voluminous for the general
reader, and has already served its purpose as an assistant to other
exploring parties, both from published account and conversational
directions. The party entered Santa Fe in the month of November. Very
soon after, Kit Carson left his companions and proceeded to Fernandez
de Taos, a Mexican town, which lies about eighty miles to the
northeast of the capital of New Mexico. During the winter that
followed his arrival in the territory of New Mexico, Kit lived with an
old mountaineer by the name of Kin Cade, who very kindly offered him a
home. It was at this period of his life that he commenced studying
the Spanish language. His friend Kin Cade became his assistant in this
task. At the same time Kit neglected no opportunity to learn all he
could about the Rocky Mountains. He little thought, then, that these
earth-formed giants were to become his future home, and so gloriously
to herald his name throughout the entire civilized globe.

The pinching effects of want now attacked poor Kit. He could obtai