wife were the first to fall. Then horror succeeded horror, and many of the
heroic pioneers of the Columbia River perished.

"The Jesuits have been accused of causing the murder of Whitman," said one
historian of Washington to me. "They indignantly deny it. I have studied
the whole subject for years with this opinion, that the Indian outbreak
and its tragedies had its origin, and largely gathered its force, from
the terrible joke of the conjured melons.

"That was the evidence that must have served greatly to turn the Indian
mind against one of the bravest men that America has produced, and whose
name will stand immortal among the heroes of Washington and Oregon."

I give this account as a local story, and not as exact history; but this
tradition was believed by the old people in Washington.

When any one in the new settlement spoke of the Potlatch, this scene came
up like a shadow. Would it be repeated?

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote A: See Historical Notes.]

CHAPTER VIII.

THE BLACK EAGLE'S NEST.

In the log school-house, Lewis and Clarke's Expedition was used as a
reading-book. Master Mann had adopted it because it was easy to obtain,
and served as a sort of local geography and history.

In this book is an account of a great black eagle's nest, on the Falls of
the Missouri; and the incident seemed intensely to interest the
picturesque mind of Benjamin.

"Let us go see," said Benjamin, one day after this poetic part of Lewis
and Clarke's narrative had been read.

"What do you mean?" asked Mr. Mann.

"I carry canoe, and we go and find him!"

"What?"

"The black eagle's nest."

"Why?"

"I'll get a plume--wear it here. Please father. I love to please father."

There was to be a few weeks' vacation in a part of September and October,
and Benjamin's suggestion led Mr. Mann to plan an excursion to the Falls
of the Missouri at that time. The old chief would be glad to have Benjamin
go with him and help hunt, and carry the canoe. They would follow the
Salmon River out of the Columbia, to a point near the then called
Jefferson River, and so pass the mountains, and launch themselves on the
Missouri, whence the way would be easy to the Falls.

The dream of this expedition seemed to make Benjamin perfectly happy. He
had already been over a part of this territory, with his father, on a
visit to the friendly tribes.

The mid-autumn in the valleys of the Columbia and Missouri Rivers is
serene, and yet kindl