"Halt! Carry! "By main strength and awkwardness, under the Chinook moon the Indians transferred the wheat to the barge below the Falls. All night he flew; obstacles vanished; new hope filled his heart as he neared the old familiar dock. He laughed. He will greet her in a moment. He was opposite the shingle camp called Portland, where the store of Pettygrove, Crosby & McLoughlin was most conspicuous on the shore.
"The ship! where is the ship? "he cried.
"Gone," said an idler on the shore. "Sailed yesterday. Carried news of the Whitman massacre to the Islands."
A few empty canoes rocked idly on the sea-green water. He stepped into one; two fishing Indians took the paddles. Without rest, without food, he gave the word, "Vancouver."
But the wharf at Vancouver was vacant and deserted.
"Send out the ' Cadboro'; ' chase her. I must catch the 'Janet/ "he cried to Douglas. But the "Cadboro' " had gone the day before. He called to the voyageurs, " Fifty beaver skins to the crew that makes the ' Janet* to-day."
David's barque flew down the Columbia. He leaned forward, glass in hand, to catch the gleam of a sail. Oak Point, Coffin Rock, Pillar Rock, Astoria, a day, a night, at last there, beyond the bar, with sails set, the "Janet" stood leagues away at sea. And the crew sang on
"Thy heart was made for laughter,
My heart 's in tears to-day; Tears for a fickle mistress, Flown from its love away.
I 've loved thee long and dearly, 1 11 love thee, sweet, for aye! "
