CHAPTER V.
Marches and Encampments.
The Encampment Among the Rocky Mountains .-- The Attempted Stampede .-- Retreat and Pursuit by the Savages .-- The Alarm .-- Loss of the Horses .-- Their Recovery .-- Enterprise of Kit Carson .-- Fight with the Indians .-- The Litter for the Wounded .-- Union of the two Trapping Parties .-- Successful Return to Taos .-- Carson joins a Trading Party .-- Chivalric Adventures .-- Attacked by Bears.
Mr.Fitzpatrick, with his party of trappers, wandering to and fro, found himself at length encamped on the head waters of the Arkansas river, in the heart of the Rocky mountains, more than a thousand miles from the point where that majestic stream empties into the Mississippi.

Their intercourse with the Indians had not been such as to secure friendly relations.

Powerful tribes were around them, ready to combine for their destruction.

The men were widely scattered in their trapping excursions, and but few were left here to guard the camp and the furs already taken.
It is impossible to trace with accuracy the course pursued by these different bands, neither is it a matter of any moment.

Kit found himself at one time, left with but one man to guard the camp.