264 ELDORADO 



and sham battles, and the men of the two escorts 

 parted firm friends. 



From this time on nothing exciting occurred, and 

 the Americans and Mexicans reached their respective 

 homes in safety, meeting with no more serious an- 

 noyance than the nightly serenades of the infernal 

 coyotes. The disheartened savages had given up their 

 attempt to crush out the travel along the Arkansas 

 trail, and entered into no more great military combina- 

 tions, preferring the safer and to them more natural 

 warfare of small, predatory bands, moving with ce- 

 lerity, and striking only detached individuals, and 

 small, unguarded bodies of men. Depending entirely 

 upon the hunting for their supplies, and with no idea 

 of an organized commisariat, the savage is unequal 

 to extended or prolonged military operations, and to 

 this fact, almost as much as to his inferior determina- 

 tion, may be traced the causes of his immense infer- 

 iority to the white man as a warrior. 



Bents Fort, or Fort William, as it was first known, 

 was situated on the Arkansas, and was the property 

 of St. Yrain and William Bent. It was built in 1833, 

 and the celebrated Kit Carson — who had graduated 

 as a trapper and hunter, as well as Indian fighter, 

 from the school of the brave and noble Ewing Young 

 — was the post hunter here from 1834 to 1842. In the 

 latter year he became the chief guide to Lieutenant 

 Fremont, and acted as such in his various expeditions, 

 undertaken under government auspices. This fort 

 witnessed many mutations, and was the scene of sev- 

 eral important events. Here General Kearney rendez- 

 voused his troops, before starting across the plains 

 for the conquest of California, and here the Texas 



