trail near the river.

Uncle Kit said to the men that were with us, "Now is your chance, boys.
You can join this train and go home with them."

When the teams drove up, the three men and the boy we had left at the
fort were with them.

They all camped there with us, and after talking with the men, we found
out that none of them claimed the teams and wagons that had been found.
The owners of them had all been killed. The survivors did not know what
to do with the wagons and their contents, and they appealed to Uncle Kit
for advice in the matter.

Carson said, "I do not see that you can do better than take them along
with you. If you leave them here, somebody will come along and take
them, and they belong as much to you as to anyone."

So the next morning they rigged up five wagons with three yoke of cattle
to a wagon, leaving eight wagons with their contents standing where
their owners had left them when the Indians had killed them.

As they were ready to pull out, Uncle Kit went to them and asked them to
give him their names and where they lived, "for," he said, "if I ever
hear where any of the people lived who owned the property you have
taken with you, I want to write to you so you can give them to their
families."

We then bid them all good bye, and they started on their journey home,
Carson having advised them not to molest the Indians no matter how many
or how few they might meet on their way, and then the Indians would not
molest them, as they were a friendly tribe, and that was the last we
ever saw or heard of that party.

We now turned back to Bent's Fort and reached there just before night.
Col. Bent's herder took care of our horses.

That night Carson, Bridger and I consulted together, and Bridger and I
decided to go with Uncle Kit to his home at Taos, Mexico, and stay a
month with him, but fate seemed to step in and change my plans.

The next morning when the herder went out to get our horses he found a
man crawling along, trying to get to the Fort, who was nearly starved
and so weak that he could hardly speak.

The herder put him on his horse and brought him to the Fort, and we gave
him some food. He said this was the first time he had broken his fast in
four days, and then he went on to tell that he and his comrades, which
were four altogether, had been among the first to come out to Cherry
Creek in search of gold the spring before, and after they got there,
they were so disappointed to find t