I had just scrambled up the bank
and shaken myself, when up came Uncle Kit and Johnnie, who had
heard the report of my gun and had come to see whether or not I
had killed anything.
"Rather cold to go bathing," said Uncle Kit. "When I go bathin' I
allus pull off my buckskin suit."
But I told them I considered myself lucky to be able to find a
suitable place to go swimming just at that time, and congratulated
myself on being all there.
Aside from my race with the bison, I put in a very pleasant
winter, and Uncle Kit said he had never spent as pleasant a time
in the mountains as he did that winter in South Park. "In fact,"
said he, "it was more like a pleasure trip than anything else."
Our camp at this time was near where the town of Tarryall has
since been built, and we ranged our horses in the extreme south
end of the park, where they had the best kind of grazing the
entire winter.
It was in the latter part of March--this now being the spring of
1852--when Uncle Kit made a trip to the south end of the park to
get our horses, thinking we had stayed there about as long as it
was safe.
During his absence Johnnie West and I were busily engaged in
making preparations to start for Bent's Fort, as soon as Carson
should get back with the horses. On his return he informed us that
he would not leave the park until about the first of May, which
was a surprise and disappointment to us both, as we had made all
calculations on getting started the following day.
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