As he spoke, however, he lowered his rifle, and although his actions apparently were without any design, his gun was pointed directly at the heart of the scout. But Kit Carson was not to be taken unaware. He had heard Rat’s declaration that he was not looking for trouble, but the action of the treacherous boaster when he had lowered his rifle so that it was aimed directly at his heart did not escape him. He understood fully what the plan of the treacherous man now was likely to be. Like a flash he pulled his own pistol and fired at his enemy. True to his aim the bullet struck the arm of Rat, even while his fingers were almost upon the trigger of his rifle. Indeed, as Kit Carson fired, Rat’s rifle also was discharged, but the wound which he had received caused his arm to turn and the ball which he had intended to send into the heart of the scout passed harmlessly above his head. Instantly the men of the camp ran forward and surrounded the two fighters. Kit Carson smiled quietly as he saw his friends approach, and then waving them back, said in a low voice: “I have done just exactly what I planned to do. I have prevented him from shooting me, and I think I have given him a lesson that he will remember for some time, and yet I have not killed him.” “That’s right, Kit! That’s right!” spoke up Jack. “We know that you’re not quarrelsome, and this is the first time I ever saw you draw a gun on a white man.” Meanwhile the bully, groaning loudly and holding his wounded arm in his hand, was led from the spot, while two of the trappers, with water from the spring, washed his wound and bound up his hand after the fashion employed by the men of the frontier. In the days that followed Reuben was not able to induce Kit Carson to refer to the fight into which he had been drawn. Not many days elapsed, however, before Rat declared that he would no longer stay in the camp, and true to his word, he soon afterward withdrew from the place. Nor was he seen again until several months had elapsed, and then it was under conditions that caused every member of the band to remember his coming. “It’s time for us to be turning back,” said Kit Carson early one morning, not long after the contest which has just been described. “Go back where?” inquired Reuben quickly. “To Pain Court?” “No. I don’t intend to go back there for years.” “Where are we going?” “To Taos.” “We’ll have to come back here again,” suggested Reuben. “We have cached our furs.” “Oh, we shall come back,” replied Carson, smiling as he spoke. “Very likely we’ll be back here the next trapping season.”