t savage fight of the day was raging. A hundred
rifles were flashing in every direction and the yells of the red men
mingled with the shouts of the excited mountaineers.

As the warriors had used every means to shelter themselves, it was
necessary to dislodge them before they could be driven back. Without
remaining together in a compact mass, the trappers made for them with
the fierceness of tigers.

The result of this charge were a number of remarkable combats. A hunter
would dash at a warrior crouching behind some rock, and the two would
begin dodging, advancing, retreating, firing, striking and manoeuvering
against each other. Sometimes one would succeed and sometimes the other.
The Blackfoot, finding the situation becoming too hot, would break
for other cover and probably would be shot on the run or would escape
altogether. Again, it would be the white man who would be just a second
too late in discharging his gun and would pay the penalty with his life.

At last the Indians began falling back and the mountaineers pushing them
hard, they finally broke and fled in a wild panic, leaving many dead
behind them. On the part of the trappers three had been killed and quite
a number badly wounded.

CHAPTER XVI.

At Brown's Hole--Trading in the Navajoe Country--Carson Serves as Hunter
at Brown's Hole--Trapping in the Black Hills--On the Yellowstone--Fight
with the Blackfeet--Their Retreat to an Island--Their Flight During the
Night--An Imposing Array of Warriors.

The fight between the Blackfeet and trappers was one of the most
important in which Kit Carson, previous to the late war, was ever
engaged. The forces must have included several hundred, and the lesson
administered to the aggressive red men was remembered by them a long
time.

After burying their dead, looking after the wounded and setting matters
to rights, the hunters resumed trapping through the Blackfoot country.
They were scarcely disturbed by their old enemies who dreaded rousing
the resentment of such a formidable body of daring and unerring
marksmen.

Our friends were very successful, and, when they made their way to the
rendezvous, a week's journey away, they carried with them an immense
stock of peltries. When the trading was finished, the parties made new
combinations and departed in different directions. Instead of attaching
himself to a large company, Kit Carson and seven choice spirits started
for a trading post known at that time