Was now the
anxious inquiry. If English, why did it come alone? where was the
merchant vessel that was to have accompanied it? If American,
what was to become of the newly acquired possession of the
Northwest Company?
In this dilemma, M'Tavish, in all haste, loaded two barges with
all the packages of furs bearing the mark of the Northwest
Company, and made off for Tongue Point, three miles up the river.
There he was to await a preconcerted signal from M'Dougal, on
ascertaining the character of the ship. If it should prove
American, M'Tavish would have a fair start, and could bear off
his rich cargo to the interior. It is singular that this prompt
mode of conveying valuable, but easily transportable effects
beyond the reach of a hostile ship should not have suggested
itself while the property belonged to Mr. Astor.
In the meantime, M'Dougal, who still remained nominal chief at
the fort, launched a canoe, manned by men recently in the employ
of the American Fur Company, and steered for the ship. On the
way, he instructed his men to pass themselves for Americans or
Englishmen, according to the exigencies of the case.
The vessel proved to be the British sloop of war Raccoon, of
twenty-six guns, and one hundred and twenty men, commanded by
Captain Black. According to the account of that officer, the
frigate Phoebe, and two sloops of war Cherub and Raccoon, had
sailed in convoy of the Isaac Todd from Rio Janeiro. On board of
the Phoebe, Mr. John M'Donald, a partner of the Northwest
Company, embarked as passenger, to profit by the anticipated
catastrophe at Astoria. The convoy was separated by stress of
weather off Cape Horn. The three ships of war came together again
at the island of Juan Fernandez, their appointed rendezvous, but
waited in vain for the Isaac Todd.
In the meantime, intelligence was received of the mischief that
Commodore Porter was doing among the British whale ships.
Commodore Hillyer immediately set sail in quest of him with the
Phoebe and the Cherub, transferring Mr. M'Donald to the Raccoon,
and ordered that vessel to proceed to the Columbia.
The officers of the Raccoon were in high spirits. The agents of
the Northwest Company, in instigating the expedition, had talked
of immense booty to be made by the fortunate captors of Astoria.
Mr. M'Donald had kept up the excitement during the voyage, so
that not a midshipman but revelled in dreams of ample prize-
money, nor a lieutenant that would have sold his chance for a
thousand pounds. Their disappointment, therefore, may easily be
conceived, when they learned that their warlike attack upon
Astoria had been forestalled by a snug commercial arrangement;
that their anticipated booty had become British property in the
regular course of traffic, and that all this had been effected by
the very Company which had been instrumental in getting them sent
on what they now stigmatized as a fool's errand. They felt as if
they had been duped and made tools of, by a set of shrewd men of
traffic, who had employed them to crack the nut, while they
carried off the kernel. In a word, M'Dougal found himself so
ungraciously received by his countrymen on board of the ship,
that he was glad to cut short his visit, and return to shore. He
was busy at the fort, making preparations for the reception of
the captain of the Raccoon, when his one-eyed Indian father-in-
law made his appearance, with a train of Chinook warriors, all
painted and equipped in warlike style.
Old Comcomly had beheld, with dismay, the arrival of a "big war
canoe" displaying the British flag. The shrewd old savage had
become something of a politician in the course of his daily
visits at the fort. He knew of the war existing between the
nations, but knew nothing of the arrangement between M'Dougal and
M'Tavish. He trembled, therefore, for the power of his white son-
in-law, and the new-fledged grandeur of his daughter, and
assembled his warriors in all haste. "King George," said he, "has
sent his great canoe to destroy the fort, and make slaves of all
the inhabitants. Shall we suffer it? The Americans are the first
white men that have fixed themselves in the land. They have
treated us like brothers. Their great chief has taken my daughter
to be his squaw: we are, therefore, as one people."
His warriors all determined to stand by the Americans to the
last, and to this effect they came painted and armed for battle.
Comcomly made a spirited war-speech to his son-in-law. He offered
to kill every one of King George's men that should attempt to
land. It was an easy matter. The ship could not approach within
six miles of the fort; the crew could only land in boats. The
woods reached to the water's edge; in these, he and his warriors
would conceal themselves, and shoot down the enemy as fast as
they put foot on shore.
M'Dougal was, doubtless, properly sensible of this parental
devotion on the part of his savage father-in-law, and perhaps a
little rebuked by the game spirit, so opposite to his own. He
assured Comcomly, however, that his solicitude for the safety of
himself and the princess was superfluous; as, though the ship
belonged to King George, her crew would not injure the Americans,
or their Indian allies. He advised him and his warriors,
therefore, to lay aside their weapons and war shirts, wash off
the paint from their faces and bodies, and appear like clean and
civil savages, to receive the strangers courteously.
Comcomly was sorely puzzled at this advice, which accorded so
little with his Indian notions of receiving a hostile nation, and
it was only after repeated and positive assurances of the
amicable intentions of the strangers that he was induced to lower
his fighting tone.
