Part 2 (1/2)

Before doubling the Horn the Isaac Todd was to sail froland for convoy of a war-shi+p The Nor' Westers nave assurance of victory was only exceeded by their utter indifference to danger, difficulty, and distance in the attainment of an end In view of the terror which the Isaac Todd was alleged to have inspired in MacDougall's ht of their shi+p ”_A twenty-gun letter of rel crerites MacDonald of Garth, ”_a miserable sailor with a miserable commander and a rascally crew_” On the way out MacDonald transferred to the British convoy Raccoon, leaving the frisky old Governor MacTavish with his gay bar pottle deep on the Isaac Todd, where the rightly disgusted captain was not on speaking terms with his Excellency

”_We were nearly six weeks before we could double Cape Horn, and were driven half-way to the Cape of Good Hope;at last doubled the cape under topsails,the deck one sheet of ice for six weeks,our sails one frozen sheet;lost sight of the Isaac Todd in a gale_,”

wrote MacDonald on the Raccoon

It will be remembered that Hunt's overlanders arrived at Astoria months after the Pacific Company's shi+p Such swift coasters of the wilderness were the Nor' Westers, this overland party ca, hale, hearty, singing as they paddled, a month before the Raccoon had come, six months before their own shi+p, the Isaac Todd

And what did MacDougall do? Threw open his gates in welcohty rivals cauns, de fetch-and-carry at the beck of the Nor' Westers, instead of keeping sternly inside his fort, starving rivals into surrender, or training his cannon upon them if they did not decamp

Alexander Henry, the partner at the head of these dauntless Nor'

Westers, says their provisions were ”nearly all gone” But, oh! the bragging _voyageurs_ told those quaking Astorians terrible things of what the Isaac Todd would do There were to be British convoys and captures and prize-money and prisoners of war carried off to Sainte Anne alone knehere The A their purpose, but not so MacDougall All his pot-valiant courage sank at the thought of the Isaac Todd, and when the ca he forbade the display of American colours above Astoria The end of it was that he sold out Mr Astor's interests at forty cents on the dollar, probably salving his conscience with the excuse that he had saved that percentage of property from capture by the Raccoon

At the end of Nove in over the bar with all sails spread but no ensign out Three shots were fired fro-lost Mr Hunt cohty Nor' Westers hastily packed their furs, ninety-two bales in all, and sent their _voyageurs_ scaall was equal to the eency He launched out for the shi+p, prepared to be an American if it were the Beaver with Mr Hunt, a Nor'

Wester if it were the Raccoon with a company partner

It was the Raccoon, and the British captain addressed the Astorians in words that have become historic: ”_Is this the fort I've heard so much about? D---- me, I could batter it down in two hours with a four-pounder!_”

Teeks later the Union Jack was hoisted above Astoria, with traders and marines drawn up under arainst the flagstaff, the country pronounced a British possession by the captain, cheers given, and eleven guns fired froe all accounts, particularly A down the curtain on the catastrophe, leaving the Nor' Westers intoxicated with success But another act was to complete the disasters of Astoria, for the very excess of intoxication brought swift judg Nor' Westers

The Raccoon left on the last day of 1813 MacDougall had been appointed partner in the North-West Co When Hunt at last arrived in the Pedler, which he had chartered after the wreck of Mr Astor's third vessel, the Lark, it was too late to do more than carry away those Americans still loyal to Mr Astor Farnham was left at Kamtchatka, whence he made his way to Europe The others were captured off California and they afterward scattered to all parts of the world Early in April, 1814, a brigade of Nor' Westers, led by MacDonald of Garth and the younger MacTavish, set out for the long journey across the mountains and prairie to the company's headquarters at Port William In the flotilla of ten canoes went many of the old Astorians Teeks afterward ca at its foretop and the dissolute old Governor MacTavish holding a high carnival of riot in the cabin

No darker picture exists than that of Astoria--or Fort George, as the British called it--under Governor MacTavish's _regime_ The picture is from the hand of a North-West partner hientle they are;diced for articles belonging to Mr M,”_ Alexander Henry had written when the Raccoon was in port; and now under Governor MacTavish's vicious example every pretence to decency was discarded

”_Avec les loups il faut hurler_” was a co Nor'

Westers, and perhaps that very assimilation to the native races which contributed so

White men and Indians vied with each other in mutual debasement Chinook and Saxon and Frenchmen alike lay on the sand sodden with corruption; and if one died frohted neck and feet with stones and pushed the corpse into the river Quarrels broke out between the wassailing governor and the other partners Eed in all sorts of theft ”All the gentlemen were intoxicated,” writes one as present; _seven hours rowing one mile_, innocently states the record of another day, _the tide running seven feet high past the fort_

The spring rains had ceased Mountain peaks eed from the empurpled horizon in do its annualfloods, waters laciers and turbulent from the rush of a thousand cataracts

Governor MacTavish[20] and Alexander Henry had eeurs_ to cross the river A blustering wind caught the sail A tidal wave pitched aht of the fort

So perished the conquerors of Astoria!

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 18: A son of the English officer of the Eighty-fourth Regiment in the American War of Independence]

[Footnote 19: Jane Barnes, an adventuress from Portsmouth, the first white woman on the Columbia]

[Footnote 20: In justice to the many descendants of the numerous clan MacTavish in the service of the fur couished from others of blameless lives]

CHAPTER IV

THE ANCIENT HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY WAKENS UP

Those eighty[21] Astorians and Nor' Westers who set inland with their ten canoes and boats under protection of tivels encountered astrip across the continent as they had left at Fort George