esponsible for the wages due them, on receiving an equivalent in goods
from the store-house of the factory. As a means of facilitating the
despatch of business, Mr. M'Dougal proposed, that in case Mr. Hunt
should not return, the whole arrangement with Mr. M'Tavish should
be left solely to him. This was assented to; the contingency being
considered possible, but not probable.

It is proper to note, that, on the first announcement by Mr. M'Dougal
of his intention to break up the establishment, three of the clerks,
British subjects, had, with his consent, passed into the service of the
Northwest Company, and departed with Mr. M'Tavish for his post in the
interior.

Having arranged all these matters during a sojourn of six days at
Astoria, Mr. Hunt set sail in the Albatross on the 26th of August, and
arrived without accident at the Marquesas. He had not been there long,
when Porter arrived in the frigate Essex, bringing in a number of stout
London whalers as prizes, having made a sweeping cruise in the Pacific.
From Commodore Porter he received the alarming intelligence that the
British frigate Phoebe, with a store-ship mounted with battering pieces,
calculated to attack forts, had arrived at Rio Janeiro, where she had
been joined by the sloops of war Cherub and Raccoon, and that they had
all sailed in company on the 6th of July for the Pacific, bound, as it
was supposed, to Columbia River.

Here, then, was the death-warrant of unfortunate Astoria! The anxious
mind of Mr. Hunt was in greater perplexity than ever. He had been eager
to extricate the property of Mr. Astor from a failing concern with as
little loss as possible; there was now danger that the whole would be
swallowed up. How was it to be snatched from the gulf? It was impossible
to charter a ship for the purpose, now that a British squadron was on
its way to the river. He applied to purchase one of the whale ships
brought in by Commodore Porter. The commodore demanded twenty-five
thousand dollars for her. The price appeared exorbitant, and no bargain
could be made. Mr. Hunt then urged the commodore to fit out one of his
prizes, and send her to Astoria, to bring off the property and part of
the people, but he declined, "from want of authority." He assured Mr.
Hunt, however, that he would endeavor to fall in with the enemy, or
should he hear of their having certainly gone to the Columbia, he would
either follow or anticipate them, should his circumstances warrant