He Watched For Her With Anxious Eyes Until
Night, But In Vain.
Day after day of boisterous storms, and
howling wintry weather, were passed in watchfulness and
solicitude.
Nothing was to be seen but a dark and angry sea, and
a scowling northern sky; and at night he retired within the jaws
of the whale, and nestled disconsolately among seal skins.
At length, on the 13th of November, the Beaver made her
appearance; much the worse for the stormy conflicts which she had
sustained in those hyperborean seas. She had been obliged to
carry a press of sail in heavy gales to be able to hold her
ground, and had consequently sustained great damage in her canvas
and rigging. Mr. Hunt lost no time in hurrying the residue of the
cargo on board of her; then, bidding adieu to his seal-fishing
friends, and his whalebone habitation, he put forth once more to
sea.
He was now for making the best of his way to Astoria, and
fortunate would it have been for the interests of that place, and
the interests of Mr. Astor, had he done so; but, unluckily, a
perplexing question rose in his mind. The sails and rigging of
the Beaver had been much rent and shattered in the late storm;
would she be able to stand the hard gales to be expected in
making Columbia River at this season? Was it prudent, also, at
this boisterous time of the year to risk the valuable cargo which
she now had on board, by crossing and recrossing the dangerous
bar of that river? These doubts were probably suggested or
enforced by Captain Sowle, who, it has already been seen, was an
over-cautious, or rather, a timid seaman, and they may have had
some weight with Mr. Hunt; but there were other considerations,
which more strongly swayed his mind. The lateness of the season,
and the unforeseen delays the ship had encountered at New
Archangel, and by being obliged to proceed to St. Paul's, had put
her so much back in her calculated time, that there was a risk of
her arriving so late at Canton, as to come to a bad market, both
for the sale of her peltries, and the purchase of a return cargo.
He considered it to the interest of the company, therefore, that
he should proceed at once to the Sandwich Islands; there wait the
arrival of the annual vessel from New York, take passage in her
to Astoria, and suffer the Beaver to continue on to Canton.
On the other hand, he was urged to the other course by his
engagements; by the plan of the voyage marked out for the Beaver,
by Mr. Astor; by his inclination, and the possibility that the
establishment might need his presence, and by the recollection
that there must already be a large amount of peltries collected
at Astoria, and waiting for the return of the Beaver, to convey
them to market.
These conflicting questions perplexed and agitated his mind and
gave rise to much anxious reflection, for he was a conscientious
man that seems ever to have aimed at a faithful discharge of his
duties, and to have had the interests of his employers earnestly
at heart.
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