ed some little time, when,
having brought it to a conclusion, he approached Lieutenant Fremont
and modestly introducing himself, said:

"Sir! I have been some time in the mountains and think I can guide you
to any point there you wish to reach."

Lieutenant Fremont's answer indicated his satisfaction in making the
acquaintance which Kit Carson had offered him and that he would make
inquiries concerning his capabilities of performing the duty for which
he offered himself.

The inquiries which the then lieutenant instituted, or, at least, may
be supposed to have instituted, must have been favorable; for, soon
afterwards, Kit Carson was engaged by Colonel Fremont to act as guide
to his first exploring expedition at a salary of one hundred dollars
per month. Upon arriving in Kansas the party prepared for a long
and dangerous journey which lay before them. The objects of this
expedition was to survey the South Pass, and take the altitude of
the highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains, besides gathering all the
collateral information which they could. The party had been chiefly
collected in St. Louis. It consisted of twenty-two Creole and Canadian
voyageurs; Mr. Charles Preuss, a native of Germany, whose education
rendered him a master in the art of topographical sketching, and,
towards whom, Colonel Fremont has always extended high and just
encomium; Henry Brant, a son of Colonel J.H. Brant, of St. Louis,
nineteen years of age; young Randolph Benton, a son of Colonel Benton,
twelve years of age; Mr. L. Maxwell, a mountaineer engaged as the
hunter of the party; and finally, Kit Carson, as guide, making,
including the commander of the Expedition, twenty-eight souls. On the
10th day of June, 1842, the party commenced their march. The daily
routine usually observed on the march was as follows:

At daybreak the camp was aroused, the animals led out and turned loose
to graze; breakfast about six o'clock, immediately after which, the
line of march was resumed; at noon there was a halt of one or two
hours; the march was then again resumed and kept up until within an
hour or so of sunset, when the order was usually given to encamp; the
tents were then pitched, horses hobbled and turned loose to graze and
the cooks prepared supper. At night all the animals were brought in
and picketed, carts set for defence and guard mounted.

[Illustration: BUFFALO HUNT.--PAGE 161.]

The party had only accomplished a few miles of the march when t