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give up ther Mexicans captives peaceably if he could, forcibly if he must. His command consisted of two companies of Dragoons and I was chosen as his guide. We arrived at the Arkansas River and found four nations of Indians encamped thereon. Some two thousand souls. The Colonel told the Indian Agent why he had come, and was informed in return that at present it would be useless to demand the surrender of the captives. He was told further that the Indians would surely refuse his request and force would be necessary to make them comply with it. The Indians being in such numbers that he would fail in his object if he undertook to fight them. It took a great deal of persuasion to cause the Colonel to desist from making an attack but as the Agent, the traders and the officers of his company were all opposed to his attempting to compel the Indians give up the captives with such and inferior force at his command he finally concluded not to demand the prisoners immediately but to postpone doing so till some other and more favorable day. Besides which in all probability his object would be gained by the making of a treaty with the Indians and by exacting that the delivery of the captives be included in one of its articles. We then marched up the Arkansas river to the mouth of the Huerfano then through the Sangre de Cristo pass, from there to Taos. In April Wm? Lucien? Maxwell and I concluded to settle in Rayado, We felt that we had been leading a roving life long enough and now if ever was the time to build our homes for ourselves and children, we were getting old and could not expect to remain strong and ? able to gain our livelihoods as we had been for such a number of years. So we went to Rayado and commenced building and making improvements