erve to wipe out the disgrace of this
defeat. The trappers were confident that the savages would soon appear
again, with numbers which they would deem sufficient to annihilate the
white men. Guided by the wisdom of Kit Carson, the whole camp immediately
resolved itself into a military garrison. Intrenchments were thrown up to
guard every approach. Everything was cleared away, around the camp within
rifle range, behind which an Indian could secrete himself. The most trusty
men were appointed as sentinels.

About a mile from the camp there was an eminence, several hundred feet
high, whose summit commanded a fine view of the whole surrounding country.
Every day some one was sent to that hill to keep a constant lookout.

The wisdom of Mr. Carson's measures was soon apparent. One morning the
watch on the hill discerned, far away in the distance, a warlike band of
Indians approaching. He had no doubt that it was, as it proved to be, but
the advanced guard of the Indian army. He waved his signal to communicate
the intelligence to the camp, and immediately hastened down to join his
comrades. Every man sprang to arms and was at his post. Kit Carson had
anticipated everything and had attended to the most minute details.

With firm self-confident tread the savages came on, a thousand in number,
to crush by the weight of their onset, and to trample beneath their feet
sixty trappers. It was an appalling sight even for brave men to look upon.
They were all arrayed in their fantastic war costume, some on horseback
splendidly mounted, some on foot, many armed with rifles, and others with
bows, arrows, and lances which were very formidable weapons in the hands
of such stalwart and sinewy men.

They came in separate bands, of two or three hundred each, and took
position about a mile from the fort. As band after band came up, the
prairie and the adjacent hills resounded with their yells of defiance. In
the evening they held their war-dance, which the trappers well understood
to be the sure precursor of the battle on the next day. Their songs could
be distinctly heard in the camp, and as they danced, with hideous
contortions, in the gathering shades of night around their fires, it
seemed as though a band of demons had broken loose from Pandemonium.

With the first dawn of the morning, a large party of these warriors
approached the fort to reconnoitre. They were evidently astonished in
beholding the preparations which had been made to re