of his red companions, and, with a smile on his rough countenance,
addressed to him some directions in reference to the document.
Although the Mexicans were much amused at these burlesque actions
of the Indians, yet they did not dare to show their mirth until the
latter had departed and left them in possession of their lives.

The day following the one on which the fight had taken place, Kit
Carson returned from Santa Fé and passed near to the spot where the
soldiers had been so roughly handled; but he did not see a visage of
an Apache. They had, by that time, traveled to the west side of the
Rio del Norte. Indeed, he anticipated no danger to himself, as he was
well aware, that the safest time to travel through any section of an
Indian country, is just after the savages have been guilty of some
highhanded act. They are then, instinctively, as some may say, but, as
the fact appears to us, by use of their reasoning powers, well aware
that active measures will be set on foot to repay them for their
rascality.

The trail which, on this occasion, Kit Carson traveled over in coming
from Santa Fé, is one of the most interesting routes, in safe times,
that the mere traveler can select. It comprises some of the most
beautiful scenery in New Mexico. The length of the trail is about
seventy-five miles, and so many windings and turns does it make
through mountains, forests and gorges, that every hundred yards
furnishes a suitable place for an Indian ambuscade. The largest part
of the country which lies between Taos and Santa Fé, is mountainous;
therefore, this trail is one series of ascents and descents. The
greatest pitch is near the scene of the fight in which Lieutenant
Davidson and his command were engaged, where the path, in order to
avoid an almost perpendicular declivity, makes a zig zag course. To