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He purchased quite a large tract of land a little out from the straggling village of Taos, and commenced farming upon a pretty large scale. As he was very busy erecting his buildings and breaking up the soil, an express arrived from Colonel Fremont, stating that he was about to set out on a third exploring tour and that he should depend upon Mr. Carson's accompanying him.
The next year the Mexicans and Pueblo Indians revolted against the American government, and killed him at his home in Taos. Bent's Fort lasted through more than twenty years. Then William Bent offered to sell it to the Government for an army post. He asked $16,000; the Government proposed $12,000. They dickered. Colonel Bent would not yield one penny.
There are white man's courts and white man's laws, down at the white man's town of Taos; but the Indian has little faith in, and less respect for, these white man courts and laws, and out at Taos has his own court, his own laws, his own absolute and undisputed governor, his own police, his own prison and his own penalties.
I don't know what ground there is for it, but tradition has it that when Popé effected the curtain drop round the sacred fire of the estufa in Taos, he produced, or induced the warriors looking on breathlessly to believe that he produced, three infernal spirits from the under world, who came from the great war-god Montezuma to command the pueblo race to unite with the Navajo and Apache in driving the white man from the Southwest.
A short time after the news of this skirmish had reached Taos, Kit Carson found it necessary, in order to attend to some official business, to proceed to Santa Fé; but, just as he was on the point of setting out, he was informed that a large party of these Jiccarilla Apaches had recently arrived at a place in the mountains only about twenty miles from Taos, and were there encamped.
The Cheyenne Country, at the time of this story, was south of the Pawnees, along the Taos Trail. All Plains Indians move about a great deal, so that you will not always hear of them in the same neighborhood. You can read how the Cheyennes were saved from the Hoh by a dog, in a book by George Bird Grinnell, called the Fighting Cheyennes.
L in disgust suggested that the taos were making little real effort and that he "stir 'em up," Soothe lieutenant drew his revolver and at a season of discord aimed it carefully in the high distance and fired. The effect on the humans was just what he desired, but he did not allow for the nervousness of the carabaos on hearing a revolver shot in a locality where it is distinctly not native.
He was much astonished at Uncle Kit sending two boys eleven hundred miles to pay so small a debt, and said that he had not expected to get the money until such time as Carson might be coming that way on other business, for it was so far that he would not have gone after it and taken the chances of crossing the country between the City of Mexico and Taos, as we had done, for the two hundred and fifty dollars.
"Before the Spaniards forced their religion upon the people, the pueblo of Taos had the Sun for their God, and worshiped the Sun as such. They had periodical assemblages of the authorities and the people in the estufas for offering prayers to the Sun, to supplicate him to repeat his diurnal visits, and to continue to make the maize, beans, and squashes grow for the sustenance of the people.
The people in Taos were much distressed, in learning of this disastrous termination of the battle. The next day they sent wagons to convey the remains of the fallen soldiers to a proper burial place. On reaching the spot, they found the inhuman savages had, as usual, mutilated the remains of every one, and had stripped them of their clothing.
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