The Life and Adventures of Kit Carson, the Nestor of the Rocky Mountains, from Facts Narrated by HimselfPeters, De Witt C. (De Witt Clinton)
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The Life and Adventures of Kit Carson, the Nestor of the Rocky Mountains, from Facts Narrated by Himself
Peters, De Witt C. (De Witt Clinton)
Carson Kit, 1809-1868; Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.)
found that they had, this time "caught a Tartar;" for, as they dashed
on, sixty warriors, fully armed and splendidly mounted, came into view
from beneath a hill where they were awaiting in ambush.
There was but one course for the trappers to take and that was to run
the gauntlet, which they did in gallant style, although twenty yards
would have frequently measured the distance between them and the
hostile savages. The bullets from the rifles of the Indians flew about
their ears thick and fast, for a heavy fire was opened upon them,
as they passed, and incessantly kept up until they were out of their
reach. The trappers did not return a shot. It would not have been
according to their custom. There is no one thing Simon-pure trappers
consider to be a greater folly than firing their rifles on such an
occasion as is here described. There is nothing they so much dread as
being left on foot with an empty gun and no time to load, when perhaps
a single shot might change defeat into victory; sure captivity into
freedom, or a dead companion into a laughing, jolly and lovable
help-mate, ready for setting a trap or to engage in the next bloody
skirmish. This must inevitably happen if, after the rider has fired,
among the score or so of passing bullets, one of them, perchance, took
a peculiar fancy for a vital organ of his horse. The mortally wounded
animal would make no account of dismounting his master and leaving
him to the tender mercies of the refined savages. In every close and
unequal contest, such as above detailed, they only think of the surest
and speediest method of escape, leaving revenge to be obtained on some
more fitting and favorable occasion. For some unaccountable reason the
savages did not give chase.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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