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.
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