w and
ice, and the tough evergreens of the mountain impeded our way, tore our
skins, and exhausted our patience. Some of us had the misfortune to wear
moccasins, with soles of buffalo hide, so slippery that we could not keep
our feet, and generally we crawled along the snow beds. Axes and mauls
were necessary to make a road through the snow.

"Going ahead with Carson, to reconnoitre the road, we reached, this
afternoon, the river which made the outlet of the lake. Carson sprang
over, clear across a place where the stream was compressed among the
rocks. But the sole of my moccasin glanced from the icy rock, and
precipitated me into the river. It was some few seconds before I could
recover myself in the current, and Carson thinking me hurt, jumped in
after me, and we both had an icy bath. We tried to search a while for my
gun, which had been lost in the fall, but the cold drove us out. Making a
large fire on the bank, after we had partially dried ourselves, we went
back to meet the camp. We afterwards found that the gun had been slung
under the ice which lined the shores of the creek."

Upon reaching the southern declivity of the mountains, Fremont and Carson,
with six others, pushed ahead to Fort Sutter where, it will be remembered,
the gold of California was first discovered. The whole party reached the
fort on the sixth of March, 1844. These extraordinary men, in the depths
of winter, had travelled from Fort Hall about two thousand miles. They
remained at the Fort recruiting but a fortnight. A braver enterprise
history does not record. Its successful accomplishment sent the name of
John C. Fremont, its leader, on the wings of fame, throughout the
civilized world. We have no space to record the vastly important results
accomplished by this exploration.

Upon leaving the fort, on their return towards the States, they met a
Mexican and a little boy, who were in great destitution and grief. They
had been left with a band of six, among whom were the boy's father and
mother, to watch their animals grazing in a fertile meadow. They were
suddenly attacked by a party of thirty Indians, who either captured or
killed all of the party except the man and the boy, who fortunately
escaped. The Indians fled with their booty. The poor boy was overwhelmed
with grief. He had every reason to fear that both of his parents were
dead.

Kit Carson's heart was touched. He proposed to Richard Godoy, an
experienced and noble-hearted mountain