in getting possession
of the papers. The bills or drafts were delivered without hesitation.
The latter he remitted to Mr. Astor by some of his associates, who were
about to cross the continent to New York. This done, he embarked on
board the Pedler, on the 3d of April, accompanied by two of the clerks,
Mr. Seton and Mr. Halsey, and bade a final adieu to Astoria.

The next day, April 4th, Messrs. Clarke, M'Kenzie, David Stuart,
and such of the Astorians as had not entered into the service of the
Northwest Company, set out to cross the Rocky Mountains. It is not
our intention to take the reader another journey across those rugged
barriers; but we will step forward with the travellers to a distance
on their way, merely to relate their interview with a character already
noted in this work.

As the party were proceeding up the Columbia, near the mouth of the
Wallah-Wallah River, several Indian canoes put off from the shore to
overtake them, and a voice called upon them in French and requested them
to stop. They accordingly put to shore, and were joined by those in the
canoes. To their surprise, they recognized in the person who had hailed
them the Indian wife of Pierre Dorion, accompanied by her two
children. She had a story to tell, involving the fate of several of our
unfortunate adventurers.

Mr. John Reed, the Hibernian, it will be remembered, had been detached
during the summer to the Snake River. His party consisted of four
Canadians, Giles Le Clerc, Francois Landry, Jean Baptiste Turcot, and
Andre La Chapelle, together with two hunters, Pierre Dorion and Pierre
Delaunay; Dorion, as usual, being accompanied by his wife and children.
The objects of this expedition were twofold: to trap beaver, and to
search for the three hunters, Robinson, Hoback, and Rezner.

In the course of the autumn, Reed lost one man, Landry, by death;
another one, Pierre Delaunay, who was of a sullen, perverse disposition,
left him in a moody fit, and was never heard of afterwards. The number
of his party was not, however, reduced by these losses, as the three
hunters, Robinson, Hoback, and Rezner, had joined it.

Reed now built a house on the Snake River, for their winter quarters;
which being completed, the party set about trapping. Rezner, Le Clerc,
and Pierre Dorion went about five days' journey from the wintering
house, to a part of the country well stocked with beaver. Here they put
up a hut, and proceeded to trap with great success. W