Chapter 42

42.

Departure of Captain Bonneville for the Columbia Advance of

Wyeth Efforts to keep the lead Hudson's Bay party A

junketing A delectable beverage Honey and alcohol High

carousing The Canadian "bon vivant" A cache A rapid move

Wyeth and his plans His travelling companions Buffalo hunting

More conviviality An interruption.

IT was the 3d of July that Captain Bonneville set out on his

second visit to the banks of the Columbia, at the head of

twenty-three men. He travelled leisurely, to keep his horses

fresh, until on the 10th of July a scout brought word that Wyeth,

with his band, was but fifty miles in the rear, and pushing

forward with all speed. This caused some bustle in the camp; for

it was important to get first to the buffalo ground to secure

provisions for the journey. As the horses were too heavily laden

to travel fast, a cache was digged, as promptly as possible, to

receive all superfluous baggage. Just as it was finished, a

spring burst out of the earth at the bottom. Another cache was

therefore digged, about two miles further on; when, as they were

about to bury the effects, a line of horsemen with pack-horses,

were seen streaking over the plain, and encamped close by.

It proved to be a small band in the service of the Hudson's Bay

Company, under the command of a veteran Canadian; one of those

petty leaders, who, with a small party of men, and a small supply

of goods, are employed to follow up a band of Indians from one

hunting ground to another, and buy up their peltries.

Having received numerous civilities from the Hudson's Bay

Company, the captain sent an invitation to the officers of the

party to an evening regale; and set to work to make jovial

preparations. As the night air in these elevated regions is apt

to be cold, a blazing fire was soon made, that would have done

credit to a Christmas dinner, instead of a midsummer banquet. The

parties met in high good-fellowship. There was abundance of such

hunters' fare as the neighborhood furnished; and it was all

discussed with mountain appetites. They talked over all the

events of their late campaigns; but the Canadian veteran had been

unlucky in some of his transactions; and his brow began to grow

cloudy. Captain Bonneville remarked his rising spleen, and

regretted that he had no juice of the grape to keep it down.

A man's wit, however, is quick and inventive in the wilderness; a

thought suggested itself to the captain, how he might brew a

delectable beverage. Among his stores was a keg of honey but

half exhausted. This he filled up