ADVENTUBES  OP  KIT  OAESON.  61

Soon  after,  Fremont,  as  ever  closely  seconded  by
his  friend  Oarson,  found  himself  in  command  of  some
hundred  and  fifty  men,  all  of  the  same  stamp  as
themselves.  With  these  he  started  for  Los  Angelos,
without  the  least  hesitation,  although  the  force  of
the  enemy  exceeded  seven  hundred.  Here  he
found  his  force  augmented  by  an  auxiliary  body.  At
once  pressing  forward  to  the  attack,  Fremont  found
that  he  had  achieved  a  useful  but  bloodless  victory.
Castro  had  fled.  Commodore  Stockton  hereupon  ap-
pointed Fremont  Governor  of  California,  a  just  rec-
ompense for  his  intelligent  bravery.
Now  Carson  realized  that  his  courage,  intelli-
gence and  patriotism  were  indeed  appfeciated,  for  he
was  selected  from  among  all  the  brave  men  there  to  be
found  in  the  Bear  State  to  convey  the  news  to  Wash-
ington that  a  little  over  a  thousand  men  had  added
a  noble  realm  to  the  soil  of  the  Union.
Seldom  has  any  man  been  the  bearer  of  more  val-
uable information,  for,  although  gold  had  not  yet
been  discovered,  there  had  been  many  intelligent
men  roaming  over  the  fertile  valleys  of  California
and  had  been  struck  by  its  possibilities  to  become
a  great  country  in  the  near  future.  How  well  the
abilities  of  Carson  were  gauged  is  seen  by  the  small
space  of  time  that  he  was  limited  to  in  order  to  reach
Washington :  sixty  days  !

Kit  started  ajid  nothing  special  called  his  attention
till  he  reached  the  copper  mines  abounding  in  parts
of  New  Mexico,  there  he  found  himself  close  to  an
Apache  village.  He  kept  right  on  through  their  huts
until  he  came  to  a  wood  just  past  their  home.  Here
he  demanded  a  "talk"  with  their  chief  men.     He


62  ADVENTURES  OF  KIT  CAESON.
