ndsome lad of eleven years old, Pablo Hernandez. With a cavalcade
of about thirty horses, they had come out from Puebla de los Angelos, near
the Pacific; had lost half their animals, stolen by the Indians, and now
sought my camp for aid. Carson and Godey, two of my men, volunteered to
pursue them, with the Mexican; and, well mounted, the three set off on the
trail. In the evening, Fuentas returned, his horse having failed; but
Carson and Godey had continued the pursuit.

[Illustration: KIT. CARSON.]

In the afternoon of the next day, a war-whoop was heard, such as Indians
make when returning from a victorious enterprise; and soon Carson and
Godey appeared driving before them a band of horses, recognised by Fuentas
to be a part of those they had lost. Two bloody scalps, dangling from the
end of Godey's gun, announced that they had overtaken the Indians as well
as the horses. They had continued the pursuit alone after Fuentas left
them, and towards nightfall entered the mountains into which the trail
led. After sunset, the moon gave light until late in the night, when it
entered a narrow defile, and was difficult to follow. Here they lay from
midnight till morning. At daylight they resumed the pursuit, and at
sunrise discovered the horses; and immediately dismounting and tying up
their own, they crept cautiously to a rising ground which intervened, from
the crest of which they perceived the encampment of four lodges close by.
They proceeded quietly, and got within thirty or forty yards of their
object, when a movement among the horses discovered them to the Indians.
Giving the war shout, they instantly charged into the camp, regardless of
the numbers which the four lodges might contain. The Indians received them
with a flight of arrows, shot from their long bows, one of which passed
through Godey's shirt collar, barely missing the neck. Our men fired their
rifles upon a steady aim, and rushed in. Two Indians were stretched upon
the ground, fatally pierced with bullets; the rest fled, except a lad, who
was captured. The scalps of the fallen were instantly stripped off, but in
the process, one of them, who had two balls through his body, sprung to
his feet, the blood streaming from his skinned head, and uttered a hideous
howl. The frightful spectacle appalled the stout hearts of our men; but
they did what humanity required, and quickly terminated the agony of the
gory savage. They were now masters of the camp, which was a pr