and six valuable rifles.  What made this loss peculiarly unpleasant was, that they could not be replaced until the party could reach the settlements.  The owners of the saddles were now in a sad plight; for, neither to the rider or his horse is it a very pleasant prospect to make a long journey without these useful articles.  After repairing their damages as best they could, they struck out afresh.  Setting aside hunger and the suffering experienced from exposure to cold, they were not again incommoded in any way until they had come to the vicinity of the Mexican towns.  Here they met several hundred Utah and Apache Indians.  These red skins showed some warlike symptoms which Kit Carson did not in the least fancy; but, to make the best of his situation, he ordered his men to post themselves in a neighboring thicket and be ready to act on the defensive.  Kit Carson then informed the Indians that they must keep at a proper distance, or otherwise he would direct his men to fire into them.  He told them that if they were disposed to be friendly, which they professed to be, towards the white men, they could show it by leaving and not annoying his party, who, being nearly naked and in a destitute condition, could give them nothing.  Evidently the savages saw this was true, and so did not hazard a fight, but departed.  Kit Carson traveled that night ten miles further.  It was late in the day when he again ventured on the trail, but this distance was all that his animals could accomplish without food and rest, for they were fatigued and poor.  His object in thus resuming his march, was to separate himself and men as far as he 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