The Life of Kit Carson: Hunter, Trapper, Guide, Indian Agent and Colonel U.S.A.
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CHAPTER XXIX.
Daring Exploit of Kit Carson and Lieutenant Beale--General Kearney Saved.
The situation of General Kearney and his men could not have been moredesperate. The only subsistence they had were their mules, and the waterwas insufficient to meet their wants. They were completely surrounded bythe brave California Mexicans. They might exist for a time on the bodiesof their animals, but they must perish without water.
General Kearney called his friends together during the afternoon toconsult as to whether any possible means of escape was before them. Hecould see none. He had sent three scouts to Commodore Stockton at SanDiego, asking for immediate help, but the three were captured by theMexicans on their return. Kearney had succeeded in exchanging a Mexicanlieutenant, whom he held prisoner, for one of the scouts, but nothingwas gained thereby. The messenger reported that they had been unable toreach San Diego, and Commodore Stockton, therefore, was in ignorance ofthe peril of his countrymen not far distant.
When every one expressed himself as unable to see the first ray ofhope, Carson in his deliberate, modest way said that it was clear only asingle possibility remained--that was by procuring relief from CommodoreStockton at San Diego. Though the other scouts had failed to reachhim, Carson expressed his belief that he could succeed. At any rate, hedesired to make the attempt to pass the Mexican lines.
Lieutenant Beale, since Minister to Austria, and favorably knownthroughout the country, immediately seconded the proposition,volunteering to accompany Carson. General Kearney gladly and gratefullyaccepted the offer, and the arrangements were instantly made. Thesearrangements were of the simplest nature. The beleaguered Americanswere surrounded by three cordons of sentinels, and it was necessaryfor Carson and Beale to make their way past them in order to reach SanDiego.
When night was fully descended, the two left the rocks and approachingthe first line, sank upon their hands and knees, and crawled forwardwith the silence and stealth of Indian scouts. Despite the utmost care,their shoes made a slight noise now and then, and to avoid it, they tookthem off and shoved them in their belts.
The exploit of Lieutenant Beale and Kit Carson was a most remarkableone in every respect. Frequently through the gloom they would catch thefaint outlines of a sentinel, pacing back and forth. Instantly the twowould lie flat on their faces until the man moved away, when the painfulprogress would be resumed.
The slightest forgetfulness was certain to prove fatal, for theMexicans, knowing the desperate straits of the Americans, must havebeen expecting some such attempt and were therefore more than usuallywatchful.
Once a mounted Mexican rode close to the prostrate figures, sprang offhis horse and lit his cigarette. He was so close that the tiny flameshowed his nose and features, as it was held in front of his face, whilelighting the twist of tobacco. During that most trying moment, asKit Carson afterwards declared, he distinctly heard the beating ofLieutenant Beale's heart.
There seemed no escape but finally the horseman drove away and thepainful progress was continued for fully two miles, during which bothmen were constantly peering through the darkness for signs of danger.Again and again they were compelled to halt, and lying flat on theirfaces, wait till their fate was determined.
"We are through," whispered Carson at last, when considerable distancebeyond the last row of sentinels.
"Thank heaven!" exclaimed Lieutenant Beale in the same guarded voice.
"Now we'll put on our shoes and travel as fast as we know how to SanDiego--"
The mountaineer paused in dismay, for, while creeping over the plain, hehad lost both his shoes that were thrust in his belt. The Lieutenant hadbeen equally unfortunate, and, as it was utterly out of their powerto recover them, they could only push on barefooted, over a soil thatabounded with thorns and prickly pears. As these could not be seen inthe darkness, their feet were soon wounded to a distressing degree. Itwas necessary to avoid the well beaten trails, so that the route was notonly made longer, but much more difficult on account of the obstaclesnamed.
Yet they were working for a great stake. The lives of General Kearneyand his brave men were in the balance. If Carson and Beale failed tobring help right speedily, they were doomed.
All night long, through the succeeding day and far into the followingnight, the couple, worn, wearied and with bleeding feet, pushed ahead.When exhausted, they would halt for a brief while, but the thought oftheir imperilled comrades, and the fear that some of the Mexicans werepursuing them, speedily started them off again and they kept to theirwork with a grim resolution which heeded not fatigue, suffering andwounds.
The only compass Carson had was his eye, but he was so familiar with thecountry that he never lost himself. The weary men were still trudgingforward, when through the darkness ahead suddenly flashed out astar-like point of light. Several others appeared and a minute afterthey dotted the background of gloom like a constellation.
"That's San Diego!" exclaimed Carson, who could not be mistaken. Thecouple could scarcely restrain their joy. New life and activity thrilledtheir bodies, and they hurried on with the same elastic eagerness theyfelt at the beginning.
In a short while they were challenged by sentinels, and making knowntheir mission, were taken before Commodore Stockton. That officer, withhis usual promptness, sent a force of nearly two hundred men to therelief of General Kearney. They took with them a piece of ordnance whichfor want of horses the men themselves were forced to draw.
They advanced by forced marches to the endangered Americans, scarcelypausing night or day, until in sight of the Mexicans, who consideringdiscretion the better part of valor, withdrew without exchanging a shotwith the naval brigade.
As may be supposed, the feet of Carson and Beale were in a frightfulcondition, when they reached San Diego. The mountaineer, on thataccount, did not return with the reinforcements, but he described thecourse and location so minutely that no difficulty was experienced bythe relieving force.
Lieutenant Beale was a man of sturdy frame, accustomed to roughing iton the frontier, but the sufferings he underwent on that eventful nightwere such that he felt the effects for years afterward.