The Indians must have lost many of their warriors in this fight, but the exact number has never been ascertained. The news of the defeat was brought by the retreating soldiers themselves to the town of Taos, where on hearing it, for short time, consternation seized hold of its inhabitants; but slowly they calmed down, and a party, consisting of Americans and Mexicans with wagons, was sent out to bring in the mutilated remains of the fallen. On reaching the field, the dead were found, but they were all mutilated and stripped of all their clothing. The Indians had left nothing which they thought might be turned to the least account. One poor fellow had escaped the rigid scrutiny of the red men by crawling to an obscure place where he had died from his wounds. On his body was found a belt that contained three hundred dollars in gold--his hard earnings that he had been saving up against a day of need. Had the savages known of this money, they would not have left it, for they are quite familiar with the use, if not with the real value of gold. A few days later, the Apaches made their appearance in a small Mexican settlement which was far distant from the scene of their success. They were dressed in portions of the uniforms and accoutrements taken from the dead dragoons; and, as they sauntered about the town, they would salute each other in military style, and otherwise mock the actions of the military men. Calling for a piece of paper, one fellow, with a bit of charcoal, pretended to write on it an order. No doubt, by so doing, he thought he was imitating something of the kind which he had seen done at a military post. After making a few scratches on the paper, he handed it to one of his red companions, and, with a smile on his rough countenance, addressed to him some directions in reference to the document. Although the Mexicans were much amused at these burlesque actions of the Indians, yet they did not dare to show their mirth until the latter had departed and left them in possession of their lives. The day following the one on which the fight had taken place, Kit Carson returned from Santa Fe and passed near to the spot where the soldiers had been so roughly handled; but he did not see a visage of an Apache. They had, by that time, traveled to the west side of the Rio del Norte. Indeed, he anticipated no danger to himself, as he was well aware, that the safest time to travel through any section of an Indian country, is just after the savages have been guilty of some highhanded act. They are then, instinctively, as some may say, but, as the fact appears to us, by use of their reasoning powers, well aware that active measures will be set on foot to repay them for their rascality.