save their lives. He
replied:

"It is a sufficient reward for me to have been instrumental in saving the
lives of two worthy citizens. I can not think of receiving one cent of
money."

They all met that night gratefully and joyously, around their camp fires.
With the exception of the guilty wretches who had been plotting murder,
all were very happy. The emotions excited were too deep to allow of
jollity. Indeed Kit Carson was never a jolly man. He had no taste for
revelry. As in every man of deep reflection and true greatness, the
pensive element predominated in his character.

It was a brilliant night, calm, serene and starlight. As Carson lay awake
at midnight, thanking God for what he had been enabled to accomplish, it
must have been an hour of sublimity to him, such as is rarely experienced
on earth. While most of the numerous party were sleeping soundly around
him, nothing could be heard but the howling of packs of prairie wolves,
and the heavy tread of the guards, as they walked their beats.

We can not doubt that Mr. Carson was in heart thoroughly a religious man.
It is the element of religion alone, which, in the midst of such
temptations, could form a character of such remarkable purity. He was too
reticent to speak of his own feelings and there were but few, if any, of
the thoughtless men around him who could appreciate his Christian
emotions.

Messrs. Brevoort and Weatherhead made a graceful acknowledgment of their
obligations to Mr. Carson for the invaluable service which he had rendered
them. In the following spring they presented him with a pair of
magnificent revolvers. Upon the silver mountings there was engraved a
brief narrative of his heroic achievement. Mr. Carson on his return to
Razado, found pleasant and constant employment in carrying on his farm and
providing many hungry mouths with game. His hospitable home was ever
crowded with guests.

Early in the summer he set out with Mr. Maxwell and a large train of
wagons, for the States. Leaving his animals and wagons on the Kansas
frontier, he descended the river to St. Louis in a steamboat. Here he
purchased a large stock of goods, and reascending the river, transferred
them to his caravan. He then started with his long train to return to New
Mexico. His route was through the rich pasturage to be found on the way
to Bent's Fort. Just before reaching the ford of the Arkansas, he fell in
with an encampment of Cheyenne warriors. They were greatly