the _Columbia_. This time he went
as far north as the Portland Canal, past the Queen Charlotte Islands,
where he met Kendrick on the _Lady Washington_. The quarrel at Nootka
between the English and the Spaniards was still going on; so this
autumn the two 'Bostonnais' anchored for the winter in Clayoquot
Sound--a place later to be made famous by tragedy--south of Nootka.
Here they built a stockaded fur-post for themselves, which they named
Fort Defence. During the winter they built and launched a little
coasting schooner, the _Adventure_.

Up at Nootka the Spaniard Gonzales de Haro had replaced Martinez; and
his countrymen Quimper and Elisa were daily exploring on the east side
of Vancouver Island, where to this day Spanish names tell of their
charting. Some of the names, however, were afterwards changed. What
is to-day known as Esquimalt, Quimper called Valdes, and Victoria he
named Cordoba. Amid much firing of muskets and drinking of wine
Quimper took solemn possession of all this territory for Spain. Then,
early in August {61} of 1791, he sailed away for Monterey, while Elisa
remained at Nootka.

Gray knew that three English vessels which had come from China for
furs--Colnett's _Argonaut_, Douglas's _Iphigenia_, and the _Princess
Royal_--had been seized by the Spanish at Nootka. Though the fact had
not been trumpeted to the world, the Spanish said that their pilots had
explored these coasts as early as 1775--at least three years before
Cook's landing at Nootka; so that if first exploration counted for
possession, Spain had first claim. Whether the Spaniards instigated
the raid that now threatened the rival American fort at Clayoquot, the
two 'Bostonnais' never knew. The _Columbia_ had been beached and
dismantled. Loop-holes punctured the palisades of the fort, and cannon
were above the gates. Sentinels kept constant guard; but what was
Gray's horror to learn in February 1792 that Indians to the number of
two thousand were in ambush round the fort and had bribed a Hawaiian
boy to wet the priming of the 'Bostonnais' guns. The fort could not be
defended against such a number of enemies, for there were not twenty
men within the walls. Gray hastily got the _Columbia_ ready for sea.
Having stowed in the hold {62} enough provisions to carry them home if
flight should become necessary, the sailors worked in the dark to their
necks in water scraping the hull free of barnacles, and when the high
tide came in, s