Page:Voyages in the Northern Pacific - 1896.djvu/105

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
RETURN TO COLUMBIA RIVER.
77 A

trading with the Indians, to Point Gregory, in latitude 43°. Here we continued our traffic, and on the 2nd of September hauled off to the westward, to look for a seal island, said to have been seen by an American vessel. On the 10th of October, after a fruitless search, we arrived off the Columbia river, sent the furs on shore, and set the carpenter to work to make a bowsprit; we took on board wood and water; also six long 12-pounders, with powder and shot, for the Sandwich Islands. On the 20th of October, I was sent with a party of thirty-three from the fort and ship to the Cladsaps' winter quarters, about 30 miles distant, to bring back John Carpenter, the blacksmith, (one of the men we landed here on our first arrival); he had behaved very well for some time, but at length got quite unruly, and deserted to the Cladsap tribe. Several messengers were sent at different times, but to no purpose, as he was protected by the tribe, none of whom had visited the fort since his desertion. Mr. Keith, the governor, fearing that the Indians would make an attempt to storm the fort at some time, headed by this desperate man, determined to have him banished from the river; and I was accordingly dispatched with orders to bring him dead or alive, together with the chief of the village at which I found him. We left the ship at about 6 o'clock in the evening in the cutter and whale boat, and pulled up Young's River to the south point, where we landed, and secured the boats in a small creek, and left two men to take care of them. We travelled through woods, over