"Were I On The Spot,"
Said He, "And Had The Management Of Affairs, I Would Defy Them
All; But, As It Is, Everything Depends Upon You And Your Friends
About You.
Our enterprise is grand, and deserves success, and I
hope in God it will meet it.
If my object was merely gain of
money, I should say, think whether it is best to save what we
can, and abandon the place; but the very idea is like a dagger to
my heart." This extract is sufficient to show the spirit and the
views which actuated Mr. Astor in this great undertaking.
Week after week and month after month elapsed, without anything
to dispel the painful incertitude that hung over every part of
this enterprise. Though a man of resolute spirit, and not easily
cast down, the dangers impending over this darling scheme of his
ambition, had a gradual effect upon the spirits of Mr. Astor. He
was sitting one gloomy evening by his window, revolving over the
loss of the Tonquin and the fate of her unfortunate crew, and
fearing that some equally tragical calamity might have befallen
the adventurers across the mountains, when the evening newspaper
was brought to him. The first paragraph that caught his eye,
announced the arrival of Mr. Stuart and his party at St. Louis,
with intelligence that Mr. Hunt and his companions had effected
their perilous expedition to the mouth of the Columbia. This was
a gleam of sunshine that for a time dispelled every cloud, and he
now looked forward with sanguine hope to the accomplishment of
all his plans.
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