JOHN C. FREMONT. 209 



perished from fatigue and exhaustion. His three 

 comrades had subsisted for several days upon his 

 corpse, which had already heen considerably de- 

 voured. Fremont gave them what relief he could, 

 and resumed his journey toward the Is"ew Mexican 

 settlements. He had not progressed far before he 

 met the welcome trail of Indians. He pursued it 

 down the Del Torte, which was then frozen over as 

 firmly as a rock; and after some time he discovered 

 a solitary Indian attempting to obtain water from 

 an air-hole. He was soon surrounded and taken. 

 He proved to be the son of a Utah chief whom Fre- 

 mont on a former occasion, several years before, 

 had met at a distant point. He became Fremont's 

 guide, conducted him to the nearest Indian settle- 

 ments, gave him four horses, and furnished the 

 necessary provisions. Fremont, having thus re- 

 cruited, proceeded to Taos, and in the hospitable 

 house of his old friend Kit Carson he obtained 

 further supplies, which he immediately sent to his 

 party who yet remained in the mountains. One- 

 third of them had already perished. Some of the 

 survivors had their feet half burned in the fire 

 which had been kindled to thaw and invigorate 

 them; others were crippled in various ways. Fre- 

 mont's situation was still gloomy in the extreme. 

 His whole outfit was lost ; his men were all either 



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