that you
should ask me that, when Kit was the very last man I laid eyes on as I
left our tribe."

Here the fellow lowered his voice and said, as if exemplifying
sympathy.

"Poor Kit was in a very bad way one hour before we parted. The fact
is, you know, he'd bin playin' the papers (meaning gambling) and had
lost everything. However, I made him happy by giving him my gun and
powder-horn. With them, you know, he will git along anywhere!"

All hands, except Kit Carson, joined in the laugh at the fellow's
impudence. Kit Carson's patience was exhausted in listening to the
barefaced falsehoods which the man was uttering; so, with some excuse,
he left the party. The fellow was unapprised of the farce which he had
been acting; and, shortly after, left the town, believing that he had
acquitted himself as became a hero.

By way of episode, and while story-telling keeps its hold on our pen,
we may as well relate a short anecdote, which, though it does not
form any close connection with this part of the narrative, seems to
illustrate the practical jokes which are sometimes played off by the
western men upon those who have yet to undergo their novitiate.

A German accidentally wandered out to and located himself in company
with others on or near the Greenhorn River, which is one of the
tributaries of the Arkansas. Their business was trading with the
Mormons, many of whom at that time traveled to Salt Lake, by what is
known as the Arkansas River route. In so doing, they came near
the vicinity of the site selected for trading purposes. In the
commencement, the German was very inexperienced in matters that
pertained to trading with these emigrants, and, as a matter of
course, in an Indian country, met with many singular adventures. It
so happened that this man was exceedingly afraid of rattlesnakes,
and those he was associated with, by way of amusement, delighted in
augmenting his fears by telling him wonderful stories of what feats
the reptile had been known to perform. On the first trip which he made
to the camp of some Mormons located about nine miles off, his ride
took him through a perfect hot-bed of these snakes. Behind his saddle,
on the horse's back which he rode, he had tied a bag of rice which he
had intended to barter. The German, not being used to riding, was a
poor horseman, while unfortunately, his steed was a spirited animal,
and at once, on his mounting, started off on a trot. The string of the
bag of rice became