The Surface
Of This Lake Was Covered With Aquatic Plants, On The Broad Leaves
Of Which Numbers Of Water-Snakes, Drawn Forth By The Genial
Warmth Of Spring, Were Basking In The Sunshine.
On the 2d day of May, at the usual hour of embarking, the camp
was thrown into some confusion by two of the hunters, named
Harrington, expressing their intention to abandon the expedition
and return home.
One of these had joined the party in the
preceding autumn, having been hunting for two years on the
Missouri; the other had engaged at St. Louis, in the following
March, and had come up from thence with Mr. Hunt. He now declared
that he had enlisted merely for the purpose of following his
brother, and persuading him to return; having been enjoined to do
so by his mother, whose anxiety had been awakened by the idea of
his going on such a wild and distant expedition.
The loss of two stark hunters and prime riflemen was a serious
affair to the party, for they were approaching the region where
they might expect hostilities from the Sioux; indeed, throughout
the whole of their perilous journey, the services of such men
would be all important, for little reliance was to be placed upon
the valor of the Canadians in case of attack. Mr. Hunt endeavored
by arguments, expostulations, and entreaties, to shake the
determination of the two brothers. He represented to them that
they were between six and seven hundred miles above the mouth of
the Missouri; that they would have four hundred miles to go
before they could reach the habitation of a white man, throughout
which they would be exposed to all kinds of risks; since, he
declared, if they persisted in abandoning him and breaking their
faith, he would not furnish them with a single round of
ammunition.
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