For two days they continued upon their mules, through this magnificent region, when the peak appeared so near, it was decided to leave the mules beside a little lake, and proceed on foot; and as the day was warm, some of the party left their coats. But at night they had reached the limit of the piney region, when they were ten thousand feet above the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and still the peak rose far above them, so that they camped without suffering, in a little green ravine, bordered with plants in bloom, and the next morning continued the ascent. Carson had led this day, and succeeded in reaching the summit of a snowy peak, supposed to be the highest, but saw from it the one they had been seeking, towering eight hundred or a thousand feet above him. They now descended off the snow, and sent back for mules, and food, and blankets, and by a blazing fire all slept soundly until morning.
Carson had understood that they had now done with the mountains, and by directions had gone at day break to the camp, taking with him all but four or five men, who were to remain with Fremont, and take back the mules and instruments. But after their departure, the programme was changed, and now understanding the topography of the country better, the party left, continued with the mules as far as possible, and then on foot, over chasms, leaping from point to point of crags, until they came, with extreme difficulty, in the intense cold and rarified air, to the height of the crest, and Fremont stood alone upon the pinnacle, and able to tell the story of this victory of Science to the world. He had been sick the day before, and Carson could not urge the prosecution of the enterprise, to reach the highest point, when the leader of the expedition was too ill to climb the summit, and therefore had not objected to the arrangement of returning to the camp.
But we have nothing more to say. The reader of the story, as Fremont tells it, wishes there were evidences of higher magnanimity, which are wanting. Carson finds no fault, seems to notice none. He performed faithfully the duty assigned to him, utters no complaint, but is content in carrying out a subordinate's first obligation, that of obeying orders.
[CHAPTER XX.]
Fremont succeeded, but not without much danger and suffering, in reaching the highest peak of the Rocky Mountains, and waved over it his country's flag, in triumph. The return trip to Fort Laramie was not marked by any incident of special note, and Carson's services being no longer required, he left his commander here, and set out for New Mexico. In 1843, he married a Spanish lady, and his time was occasionally employed by Messrs. Bent and St. Vrain, his old and tried friends.
While thus engaged at Bent's Fort, he learned that his old commander and friend had passed two days before, on another exploring expedition, and being naturally anxious to see again one to whom he was so strongly attached, he started on his trail, and after following it for seventy miles, came up with him. The meeting was mutually pleasing, but resulted quite contrary to Carson's anticipations, for, instead of merely meeting and parting, Fremont, anxious to regain the services of one whose experience, judgment, and courage, had been so well tried, persuaded him to join this second expedition, and again we find him launched as guide and hunter.
Carson was at once despatched to the fort with directions to procure a supply of mules which the party much needed, and to meet him with the animals at St. Vrain's Fort. This was accomplished to Fremont's entire satisfaction. The object of this second exploration was to connect the survey of the previous year with those of Commander Wilkes on the Pacific coast, but Fremont's first destination was the Great Salt Lake, which has since become so famous in the annals of our country.
Fremont's description of this journey, and of his passage across the lake in a frail India rubber boat, which threatened at every moment destruction to the entire party, is so true to life, and so highly interesting, we quote it entire. The party reached, on the 21st of August, the Bear River, which was the principal tributary of the lake, and from this point we quote Fremont's words: