could from the Indians, fearing that they might change their minds and conclude to attack him. Being too weak, his party was in no condition for an engagement. At the end of this distance he fortunately met with a party of volunteers, who had been out in search of these very savages, in order that they might punish them for some rascality they had been recently guilty of. The next day Kit Carson reached Taos, where he allowed himself a short respite for the purpose of recruiting, and also to have the pleasure of a visit to his family and friends. These were privileges which, during his life in the mountains, had been seldom granted to him, though his feelings of attachment for relatives and intimate acquaintances are not exceeded by those of any living man. Indeed, his love for his children is unbounded. We have several times heard him assert, that if there was any one thing that could make him a coward, it would be the thoughts of his little ones. When his party was sufficiently recruited, Kit Carson left Taos and proceeded to Santa Fe. At this time Colonel Newby, of the Illinois Volunteers, was in command of the United States forces stationed there. This gentleman informed Kit Carson that his appointment as lieutenant, made by President Polk, was not confirmed by the United States Senate. Many of Kit's friends, on hearing this, came to him and advised him not to carry the dispatches any further; but, instead, they counseled him to deliver them to the commanding officer of the post he was at, advising him that he was doing duty as an officer in the army and yet was not recognized by government. The language used by Kit Carson on this occasion, in reply to his friends, is so much to his credit and is so like the man, that every American citizen ought to know it. It was as follows: "I was intrusted with these dispatches, having been chosen in California, from whence I come, as the most competent person to take them through safely. I would try to fulfill this duty even if I knew it would cost me my life. It matters not to me, while I am performing this service for my country, whether I hold the rank of a lieutenant in the United States army, or am known merely as an experienced mountaineer. I have gained some little honor and credit for the manner in which I have always conducted myself when detailed on any special and important business, and I would on no account now wish to forfeit the good opinion formed of me by a majority of my countrymen because the United States Senate did not deem it proper to confer on me an appointment which I never solicited, and one which, had I been confirmed, I would have resigned at the termination of the war."