At last when it was decided to break camp the trappers delayed a day in order to make a _cache_. A long trench was made in an unusually dry bank of earth not far from a stream on which the men had been trapping. A deep hole or excavation was made in this bank until a trench several yards wide and many yards long had been fashioned. All the time the men maintained guards and also took the utmost pains to hide every trace of their labours so that none of the prowling Indians would suspect either the task in which they had been engaged or the place where the skins had been hidden. The turf was cut with great care and placed on one side of the hole. Much of the top soil then was placed on blankets or buffalo robes. The rest of the dirt which they dug while they were making the excavation was carried in pails by the men to the middle of the stream and there poured into the rushing waters. At last when the hole was as large as they desired, twigs and dry grasses were cut and with these the trappers carefully lined the hole which they had dug. After all this had been done the furs were tightly packed and stored in the place. Last of all, grass and loose skins were placed over the bundles of furs and pounded with the top soil, which had been saved and had now been brought back from the place in which it had been stored. Then all the ground was watered and the turf was replaced with utmost care. After the task had been accomplished, unless a man had been informed of the work which had been done, it would have been almost impossible for him to discover any signs about the place that the trappers had made a storehouse in which they had concealed their furs. A little later, when the September days came, it was decided by the trappers that they would start homeward. But it was also agreed that they would trap throughout their journey. They were to escape the hardest part of the ride across the desert because they now planned to follow the Colorado River in its course until they came to the Gila. Then their course again was to be changed and they were to follow that river on their homeward way. In this manner they were confident that they would be able to trap as they journeyed and, if fortune should favour them, they would add many skins to those which they already had taken. The plan was speedily approved, and as the men sat about the camp talking of the return which they were now eager to make, the proceedings were interrupted by the approach of a stranger. Instantly Reuben recognized him as Rat, the braggart whom he had last seen when he was among the foothills of the Rockies. Confidently, as if the man himself had been a member of the band for a long time, the stranger approached and said: “I want to stop with you over night.” “You’re welcome,” replied Kit Carson, nevertheless gazing keenly at the stranger as he spoke. “I have taken about fifteen hundred skins,” said the visitor, laughing loudly as he spoke.