In Short, So Helpless And Woebegone Was His
Plight, That His Party Proceeded On Their March Without Him; The
Captain Promised To Bring Him On In Safety In The After Part Of
The Day.
As soon as this party had moved off, Captain Bonneville's men
proceeded to construct and fill their cache; and just as it was
completed the party of Wyeth was descried at a distance.
In a
moment all was activity to take the road. The horses were
prepared and mounted; and being lightened of a great part of
their burdens, were able to move with celerity. As to the worthy
convive of the preceding evening, he was carefully gathered up
from the hunter's couch on which he lay, repentant and supine,
and, being packed upon one of the horses, was hurried forward
with the convoy, groaning and ejaculating at every jolt.
In the course of the day, Wyeth, being lightly mounted, rode
ahead of his party, and overtook Captain Bonneville. Their
meeting was friendly and courteous; and they discussed, sociably,
their respective fortunes since they separated on the banks of
the Bighorn. Wyeth announced his intention of establishing a
small trading post at the mouth of the Portneuf, and leaving a
few men there, with a quantity of goods, to trade with the
neighboring Indians. He was compelled, in fact, to this measure,
in consequence of the refusal of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company
to take a supply of goods which he had brought out for them
according to contract; and which he had no other mode of
disposing of. He further informed Captain Bonneville that the
competition between the Rocky Mountain and American Fur Companies
which had led to such nefarious stratagems and deadly feuds, was
at an end; they having divided the country between them,
allotting boundaries within which each was to trade and hunt, so
as not to interfere with the other.
In company with Wyeth were travelling two men of science; Mr.
Nuttall, the botanist; the same who ascended the Missouri at the
time of the expedition to Astoria; and Mr. Townshend, an
ornithologist; from these gentlemen we may look forward to
important information concerning these interesting regions. There
were three religious missionaries, also, bound to the shores of
the Columbia, to spread the light of the Gospel in that far
wilderness.
After riding for some time together, in friendly conversation,
Wyeth returned to his party, and Captain Bonneville continued to
press forward, and to gain ground. At night he sent off the sadly
sober and moralizing chief of the Hudson's Bay Company, under a
proper escort, to rejoin his people; his route branching off in a
different direction. The latter took a cordial leave of his host,
hoping, on some future occasion, to repay his hospitality in
kind.
In the morning the captain was early on the march; throwing
scouts out far ahead, to scour hill and dale, in search of
buffalo. He had confidently expected to find game in abundance,
on the head-waters of the Portneuf; but on reaching that region,
not a track was to be seen.
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