Some families belonging to each fort were much less under the influence of fear than others.

These often, after an alarm had subsided, in spite of every remonstrance, would remove home, while their more prudent neighbors remained in the fort.

Such families were denominated _fool-hardy_, and gave no small amount of trouble by creating such frequent necessities of sending runners to warn them of their danger, and sometimes parties of our men to protect them during their removal." While Kit Carson was impatiently at work on the bench of the harness-maker, feeding his soul with the stories, often greatly exaggerated, of the wonders of scenes and adventures to be encountered in the boundless West, a party of traders came along, who were on the route for Santa Fe.

This city, renowned in the annals of the West, was the capital of the Spanish province of New Mexico.

It was situated more than a thousand miles from Missouri, and contained a mongrel population of about three thousand souls.