the fort,
launched a canoe, manned by men recently in the employ of the American
Fur Company, and steered for the ship. On the way, he instructed his
men to pass themselves for Americans or Englishmen, according to the
exigencies of the case.

The vessel proved to be the British sloop of war Raccoon, of twenty-six
guns, and one hundred and twenty men, commanded by Captain Black.
According to the account of that officer, the frigate Phoebe, and two
sloops of war Cherub and Raccoon, had sailed in convoy of the Isaac Todd
from Rio Janeiro. On board of the Phoebe, Mr. John M'Donald, a partner
of the Northwest Company, embarked as passenger, to profit by the
anticipated catastrophe at Astoria. The convoy was separated by stress
of weather off Cape Horn. The three ships of war came together again at
the island of Juan Fernandez, their appointed rendezvous, but waited in
vain for the Isaac Todd.

In the meantime, intelligence was received of the mischief that
Commodore Porter was doing among the British whale ships. Commodore
Hillyer immediately set sail in quest of him with the Phoebe and the
Cherub, transferring Mr. M'Donald to the Raccoon, and ordered that
vessel to proceed to the Columbia.

The officers of the Raccoon were in high spirits. The agents of the
Northwest Company, in instigating the expedition, had talked of immense
booty to be made by the fortunate captors of Astoria. Mr. M'Donald had
kept up the excitement during the voyage, so that not a midshipman but
revelled in dreams of ample prize-money, nor a lieutenant that would
have sold his chance for a thousand pounds. Their disappointment,
therefore, may easily be conceived, when they learned that their
warlike attack upon Astoria had been forestalled by a snug commercial
arrangement; that their anticipated booty had become British property
in the regular course of traffic, and that all this had been effected
by the very Company which had been instrumental in getting them sent on
what they now stigmatized as a fool's errand. They felt as if they had
been duped and made tools of, by a set of shrewd men of traffic, who had
employed them to crack the nut, while they carried off the kernel. In a
word, M'Dougal found himself so ungraciously received by his countrymen
on board of the ship, that he was glad to cut short his visit, and
return to shore. He was busy at the fort, making preparations for
the reception of the captain of the Raccoon, when his one-eyed India