ted. When they had pocketed the amount, and
squandered it in regales or in outfits, they began to talk of pecuniary
obligations at Mackinaw, which must be discharged before they would be
free to depart; or engagements with other persons, which were only to
be canceled by a "reasonable consideration." It was in vain to argue or
remonstrate. The money advanced had already been sacked and spent, and
must be lost and the recruits left behind, unless they could be freed
from their debts and engagements. Accordingly, a fine was paid for one;
a judgment for another; a tavern bill for a third, and almost all had to
be bought off from some prior engagement, either real or pretended.

Mr. Hunt groaned in spirit at the incessant and unreasonable demands of
these worthies upon his purse; yet with all this outlay of funds, the
number recruited was but scanty, and many of the most desirable still
held themselves aloof, and were not to be caught by a golden bait. With
these he tried another temptation. Among the recruits who had enlisted
he distributed feathers and ostrich plumes. These they put in their
hats, and thus figured about Mackinaw, assuming airs of vast importance,
as "voyageurs" in a new company, that was to eclipse the Northwest. The
effect was complete. A French Canadian is too vain and mercurial a
being to withstand the finery and ostentation of the feather. Numbers
immediately pressed into the service. One must have an ostrich plume;
another, a white feather with a red end; a third, a bunch of cock's
tails. Thus all paraded about, in vainglorious style, more delighted
with the feathers in their hats than with the money in their pockets;
and considering themselves fully equal to the boastful "men of the
north."

While thus recruiting the number of rank and file, Mr. Hunt was joined
by a person whom he had invited, by letter, to engage as a partner in
the expedition. This was Mr. Ramsay Crooks, a young man, a native of
Scotland, who had served under the Northwest Company, and been engaged
in trading expeditions upon his individual account, among the tribes of
the Missouri. Mr. Hunt knew him personally, and had conceived a high
and merited opinion of his judgment, enterprise, and integrity; he was
rejoiced, therefore, when the latter consented to accompany him. Mr.
Crooks, however, drew from experience a picture of the dangers to
which they would be subjected, and urged the importance of going with a
considerable force.