Mr. Carson

“ "He asks me which of them two I liked best. Perhaps I liked Mr. Harry Carson once--I don't know--I've forgotten; but I loved James Wilson, that's now on trial, above what tongue can tell--above all else on earth put together; and I love him now better than ever, though he has never known a word of it till this minute. For you see, sir, mother died before I was thirteen, before I could know right from wrong about some things; and I was giddy and vain, and ready to listen to any praise of my good looks; and this poor young Mr. Carson fell in with me, and told me he loved me; ”

“ Carson; and, now, see here what Clayton says: 'I shall have business that will take me in your vicinity next week; and it is quite possible, unless I hear from you to the contrary, that you may see me at Canema next Friday or Saturday.' Well, then, see here; there's another from Mr. Carson,—that hateful Carson! Now, you see, he hasn't got my letter; says he is coming. What impudence! I'm tired to death of that creature, and he'll be here just as certain! Disagreeable people always do keep their promises! He'll certainly be here! ”

“ The Indians began to bluster, to talk loud and to grow insolent. But Mr. Carson never allowed himself to lose his temper. A man in a passion seldom acts wisely. With calm persistence he said, "I can listen to no overtures of peace, until our horses are restored." Still the Indians hesitated to provoke a battle in which some of their warriors would undoubtedly fall. At length they sent out and brought in five of the poorest and most exhausted of the horses, saying that these were all that they could or would restore.
The trappers accepted this as a declaration of war. ”

“ Mr. Carson was a thin little man, a bachelor, who occupied the smallest room on the third story. He was a clerk in a department store, and his board was generally in arrears. Therefore, when Mrs. Hepton expressed an opinion he made it a point to agree with her. In this instance, however, he merely grunted.
“I say fresh air in one’s sleeping room is a good thing in moderation. Don’t you think so, Mr. Carson?” repeated the landlady.
Mr. Carson rolled up his napkin and inserted it in the ring. ”

“ Every one in the camp desired to see him humbled.
One day Shunan was particularly offensive. That morning he had engaged in two fights, and had knocked down and flogged both of the men whom he had assailed. The traders had brought whiskey to the rendezvous, and probably whiskey was at the bottom of these troubles. Mr. Carson was quietly talking with some of his friends, in one part of the extended encampment, when the swaggering bully came along seeking to provoke another fight. "These Americans," said he, "are all cowards; they are all women. ”

“ Carson had really wanted for years and years and people generally got the things they wanted most if they were willing to work hard for them. And it turned out that all the Carsons were willing to work hard for Andy’s monument. It was astonishing the way they worked.
“Mrs. Carson and the children started with the house and yard. They cleaned the rubbish off the yard and raked and swept it and planted flowers. They made the stove wood into a neat pile and swept up the chips and patched the fence and whitewashed it. By this time Mr. Carson had the fever, too. ”

“ When game was plenty, this was an easy task, but often wandering bands of Indian hunters would sweep that whole region around rendering the labors of Mr. Carson extremely difficult. For unfrequently he would wander from sunrise to sunset over prairie and mountain, in pursuit of game; but rarely did he return without a mule load. At times he extended his hunting trips to a distance of fifty miles from the fort. During these eight years thousands of buffalo, elk, antelope and deer, fell before his rifle, besides a vast amount of smaller game. ”

“ But very little reliance could be placed even in the friendly protestations of the vagabond savages, ever prowling about, and almost as devoid of intelligence or conscience, as the wolves which at midnight were heard howling around the settler's door. The family of Mr. Carson occupied a log cabin, which was bullet-proof, with portholes through which their rifles could command every approach. Women and children were alike taught the use of the rifle, that in case of an attack by any blood-thirsty gang, the whole family might resolve itself into a military garrison. ”

“ Colonel Fremont proceeded to Washington. Kit Carson returned to Taos. Thinking that he had had enough of wandering, he decided to become a farmer, that he might reside at home with his family. He purchased quite a large tract of land a little out from the straggling village of Taos, and commenced farming upon a pretty large scale.
As he was very busy erecting his buildings and breaking up the soil, an express arrived from Colonel Fremont, stating that he was about to set out on a third exploring tour and that he should depend upon Mr. Carson's accompanying him. ”

“ Colonel Fremont manifested the greatest pleasure in again meeting Mr. Carson, and so urged him to join the expedition that he decided to do so. It had become manifest that the party needed more mules to assist them in their operations. In climbing wild mountains these hardy animals are far more valuable than horses.
Kit Carson was sent back to Fort Bent to procure the mules, and to rejoin the party at St. Vrain's Fort, on the south fork of the Platte. Here Major Fitzpatrick, with a reinforcement of forty men, was added to the expedition. ”

“ The Apaches began to commit depredations upon the property of the settlers in the northern part of New Mexico. Some of the citizens fell a sacrifice to their barbarity. Mr. Carson at once sent Lieutenant Bell, a United States officer, with quite a force of dragoons, in pursuit of them. Although the red men were quite willing to scalp peaceful and unarmed citizens, when they found their own ranks torn and bleeding by the balls of their foes, and their chiefs biting the dust in the death agony, then courage gave place to terror, and flight became their resource. ”

“ Neither is Carson's."
"And mine?" he grinned at her. "Read me my horoscope, Miss Sanford!"
"You have taken the trouble to be something more than just a horse foreman," she told him quietly. "I don't know what your advantages have been; if you haven't gone through high school, then at least you have been ambitious enough to get books, to read, to educate yourself. You have developed further than Carson; you have broadened more than Tripp."
"Thanks," he offered dryly.
"Oh, I'm not seeking to intrude into your private affairs, Mr. Bud Lee!" she cried warmly at his tone. ”

“ It is well known, that there is no religionist so zealous as a convert; no masters so stern, and regardless of the interests of their work-people, as those who have risen from such a station themselves. This would account for the elder Mr. Carson's determination not to be bullied into yielding; not even to be bullied into giving reasons for acting as the masters did. It was the employer's will, and that should be enough for the employed. Harry Carson did not trouble himself much about the grounds for his conduct. ”

“ Even civilized men, in war, will often retaliate, by punishing the innocent for the crimes of the guilty. It is not strange that untutored Indians, having received atrocious wrongs from one band of white men, should wreak their vengeance on the next band whom they chanced to encounter.
Mr. Carson, in addition to his farm at Razado, had what may be called his city residence in the straggling old town of Taos. ”

“ Now, to my thinking, them [118] that is strong in any of God’s gifts is meant to help the weak—be hanged to the facts! I ask your pardon, sir; I can’t rightly explain the meaning that is in me. I’m like a tap as won’t run, but keeps letting it out drop by drop, so that you’ve no notion of the force of what’s within.”
Job looked and felt very sorrowful at the want of power in his words, while the feeling within him was so strong and clear.
“What you say is very true, no doubt,” replied Mr. Carson; “but how would you bring it to bear upon the masters’ conduct—on my particular case?” ”

“ I resign on the spot. I’d fight the whole camp before I’d knuckle down to a lot of rascals.”
“All right, Mr. Riley; your resignation is accepted,” said Frank, as the door opened, and he stepped into the building. “My father has seen for some time that you and the men here had bad blood between you; and he wants you on the ranch, if you will come, to fill a position that pays better than being overseer at the mine.”
Riley, who was certainly a fighter, looked uncertain.
“Well,” said he, “it sure does make me tired to think these plotters are going to soft-soap Colonel Haywood ”

“ But I didn’t see Sandy, and there was no one else to take into my confidence.”
“Well, I think the men ought to know,” Frank declared. “They’ll understand that I’m ready to take them into the game; and perhaps some one may have seen the rascals, and can give us an idea about what they looked like. Come out, [Pg 95] Mr. Riley, and let the crowd understand that you don’t suspect any of them.”
Some dark looks were cast toward the deposed overseer; but at least the men entertained a healthy respect for his muscular prowess; and nobody ever questioned his bravery. So no violence was offered him. ”

“ In his way thither resided parson Carson, who, being one whom nature had made up in a hurry without a heart, Mr. Carew had never been able to obtain anything off him, even under the most moving appearance of distress, but a small cup of drink. Stopping now in his way, he found the parson was gone to Lord Clifford's; but, being saluted at the door by a fine black spaniel, with almost as much crustiness as he would have been had his master been at home, he thought himself under no stronger obligation of observing the strict laws of honour, than the parson did of hospitality ”

“ The organ, as Carson threatened, was transferred to the hay-loft and not to the church, and as for the two Chairmen, they have several times expressed themselves to the effect that Carson is a very irritable, not to say profane, person.
But I am still inclined to think him a philosopher. Under the provocation any man of a less philosophical temperament might have forgotten the laws of hospitality and cursed his offending guests in his own house.
THE PLOT THAT FAILED
Among the most promising residents of Dumfries Corners some ten years ago was a certain Mr. ”

“ You’ve been watching the trail for an answer to the note you sent by that Indian?”
“For two days, now, Frank. And all the while the pot has kept simmering, getting hotter and hotter. The works are shut down because there’s no man to run the stamps. And we never had as big a month as the last has been. I heard Mr. Riley say it beat the record.”
He walked alongside Frank, talking as he went. Bob was keenly on the alert, knowing now that exciting events were going to happen before long. ”

“ Frank agreed. “Perhaps they came from Phoenix; or even far-away Los Angeles. The story of the rich Cherry Blossom has traveled far and wide; and I suppose these three rascals made up a plot to get away with the month’s run.”
“And they did it, all right,” remarked Bob. “Think you can follow the tracks, Frank?”
“The easiest thing ever,” came the reply. “Besides, right here Mr. Riley left his big footprints, so a blind man could keep on the trail. [Pg 100] Come on, we might as well be moving. Plenty of time later on for a rest, when perhaps the dark will keep us from work.” ”

“ They kept pushing on steadily over the plains as the minutes crept past.
“It’s a great pity our horses were stale after an all day ride, when this thing started out,” remarked Bob.
[Pg 122]
“That’s what I was saying to myself a little bit ago,” Frank replied.
“If it had been morning, now,” the Kentucky boy sighed, “with Buckskin and Domino fresh, wouldn’t we just eat up the ground, though, and climb after those fellows? Why, we’d leave that big bay of Mr. Riley’s out of sight.”
“Sure thing,” added Frank; “why, even as it is, we hold our own with the bay; and he was fresh to start with.” ”

“ On his arrival at this place, young Carson [20] might justly be considered in view of his age, (not yet 18,) more than an ordinary traveler. He had arrived at a spot where everything was strange to him. New people, new customs, a new climate, a wine country, a population of mixed breed, half Indian, half Spaniard—everything wearing a foreign aspect; everything totally different from his home in Missouri.
He did not remain long in this place, but returned to Santa Fe, whence he again found his way to Taos, where he passed the winter in the service of Mr. ”

“ A slip would mean trouble for man and horses. But if they can make it, we ought to be able to.”
“Where they lead we follow!” cried Bob, much excited by this time.
[Pg 111]
They were soon sweeping along close to the dangerous place in the trail. Sim was in the van, for since he had been installed in the place of honor as tracker, it was only right he should assume the lead. Next to him came Mr. Riley; then Frank, while Bob brought up in the rear.
“Say, Frank, did you happen to see the sacks of treasure hung on the animals?” asked the Kentucky boy. ”

“ Riley,” remarked Frank, gleefully. “And since they already trust me, I expect to have little trouble in [Pg 90] patching up a lasting truce with the men of the Cherry Blossom mine. Why, perhaps in a day or two, my chum and I will be taking the back trail to Circle Ranch.”
The deposed foreman looked around him cautiously, and Bob was struck by something of mystery in his actions. Then he leaned forward, and plucked Frank by the sleeve.
“It might be you will not be leaving for home as soon as you thought, Frank,” he said, suggestively.
“Why not, Mr. Riley; what’s to hinder us?” ”