The trapper and the two boys smiled at the old fellow’s manner. “You didn’t like some of Gaunt’s men, then?” said Kit. “Hardly. There’s some right down scalawags among them,” said Zeke. “Good trappers, mind you. But that ain’t everything. I’ve had too many hard rubs from the Injuns in my day to join a company that’s got a renegade among ’em.” “A renegade,” said Kit, and there was a quick snap in his eyes. “Moccasin Williams,” said Zeke. “So he’s gone out with Captain Gaunt’s party, has he?” said Kit. “And what country does the captain propose to trap?” “Oh, the Laramie and the Snake Rivers, I hear,” replied Zeke. “About the same section as Fitzpatrick’s crowd.” That evening Kit and his two young friends held another council. “Williams’ going out with Captain Gaunt shows one thing very plainly,” said the trapper. “Either he’s heard of us searching for him, or Spotted Snake’s been so hot on his trail that there was nothing else to do. He didn’t dare make for California to prove the truth of the map, because he felt that somebody would be sure to be watching for him at the missions or towns.” “What do you suppose his plans are?” asked Joe. “It may be,” said the trapper, looking thoughtfully at them both, “that he’s gone out with Gaunt just to wait till the search for him dies down. Or it might be that he means to make for the coast by a longer way.” Dave thought of the grim mountain chains, the trackless prairies, the roving bands of Indians, some of whom had never seen a white man. “A single man could never make his way by that route,” said he. Kit shook his head. “Maybe not,” he said, slowly. “But, at the same time, don’t forget that Moccasin Williams has lived among the redskins; he knows their ways and talks their languages. What would be death to any other might be smooth going enough for him.” “We must reach him before he leaves the trapping company he went out with,” said Joe, excitedly. “If we don’t he’ll get away from us for good.” “Well,” said Kit, thoughtfully, “we can’t follow Gaunt’s track by ourselves. The Indians would be down on us before we’d been out a week. But old Zeke says Fitzpatrick’s company is going to trap in much the same country as Gaunt. What say if we join Fitzpatrick, and in that way get within striking distance of our man?” Both lads jumped at the idea; and next morning the three went to see Mr. Fitzpatrick, a trapper and trader well known in the southwest. He was pleased to see them, for men were rather difficult to secure at the time. The result was that in an hour all arrangements were made; and in a few weeks Kit Carson and his boy comrades had turned their faces toward the wilderness once more. CHAPTER IX IN THE COUNTRY OF THE HOSTILES Fitzpatrick, the head of the fur hunting expedition of which Kit Carson now made one, was a hardy, courageous man, a good trapper, and knew the country and its signs as well as any other man of his time.