Horses were in this remote region very valuable.
They could not easily be obtained, and were indispensable to transport the furs.

They were worth two hundred dollars each.
This Indian, one night, selected six of the fleetest horses, and mounting one and leading the rest, with his stolen property, disappeared over the trackless waste.

It was a sum total loss of twelve hundred dollars.

But the immediate pecuniary loss was not all, for the horses could not easily be replaced, and without them all the movements of the trapping party were greatly crippled.

Mr.Robidoux, knowing Kit Carson's reputation for sagacity and courage, immediately applied to him to pursue the Indian.