Carson discovered a fictional book, possibly by Averill, about himself in the Apache camp. He wrote in his Memoirs: "In camp was found a book, the first of the kind I had ever seen, in which I was made a great hero, slaying Indians by the hundreds, and I have often thought that Mrs. White would read the same, and knowing that I lived near, she would pray for my appearance and that she would be saved." The real Kit Carson met the fictional Kit Carson and is upset at his inability to have saved Mrs. White, has failed to live up to the growing myth. He was sorry for the rest of his life that he had not rescued Mrs. White; the dime-novel Kit would have saved her.