agonies of death. With uplifted hand, the Indian hesitated; for, he
knew the character of the man who stood before him, as they had hunted
together during many moons gone by, on the same mountains and on the
same trail. At last, using his own savage dialect, in order that his
words could not be understood by others about him, the savage answered
the Mexican hunter by saying, "that by chance they might some day meet
again;" a threat which fell harmless at the feet of Sanchez. As he
took his departure, the chief added, in Spanish, "I will tell these
things to my father,[20] Kit Carson," as if further attempting to
intimidate the hunter; but Sanchez knew that his own and Carson's
opinions were the same in regard to this man; therefore, he smiled
at the rascal's knavery. _Chico Velasques_ was followed in his
chieftainship by _Blanco_, who did his utmost to walk in the footsteps
of his illustrious predecessor; but, he was not so cunning, and was
less successful in his encounters with the Americans and Mexicans,
and therefore had not that influence with his tribe which the former
possessed. Still, he performed his quantum of mischief, and yet lives
to play his part in the great drama of Indian life. An Apache Indian
is rather small in stature, but everything about him denotes symmetry
and strength. His limbs are almost straight, and their muscles are
as hard as iron. The elasticity of his movements, when in the least
excited, shows a high degree of physical training. His coal-black eye
exhibits an amount of treachery rarely seen elsewhere, proving the
truth of the Chinese adage, that "the tongue may deceive, but the eye
can never play the rogue."

[Footnote 20: This expression of "father," with these Indians, means
their agent.]

But to return to the narrative. The commanding officer of the party
sent out against these Indians, on arriving again at Taos, reported to
Col. Beall that the reason he had returned was because, at the present
time, it was impracticable to cross the mountains. That brave
and experienced officer replied, "that there was no such word as
impracticable in the soldier's vocabulary, and that nothing ought
to be impossible for the 1st regiment of United States dragoons to
accomplish." Suiting his actions to his words, Col. Beall reorganized
the command, took charge of it himself, and employed Kit Carson as his
guide. When everything was in proper trim, this expedition set
out, and after surmounting many