University of Virginia Library

10. CHAPTER X.

M. P. F.

The union of the Shoshonee and Shienne had long
been suspended on points so nearly balanced, that the
slightest circumstance was sufficient to turn the scale.
A single spark was enough to create an explosion.
An elk of unusual size passed down the vale, and drew
out all the hunters of the nation in the pursuit. The
honor of the tribes became involved in the question,
who of them should bring the animal down. It afterwards
involved a deeper dispute, whether a Shienne
or Shoshonee had inflicted the fatal shot. The
event occurred on the autumnal maize feast, when
both parties had been drinking. A crowd gathered
about the fallen animal. Loud altercation and fierce
words ensued. The quarrel soon grew to blows; and
a perfect melee ensued, a most murderous and vindictive
fight, in which the parties were too close to use
yagers, and availed themselves only of knives, dirks
and tomahawks. The loud yell of struggle, revenge
and death arose; and the blood of the tribes mingled
in rivulets. None can tell, how far the battle would
have extended, had not the shrieks of the children,
wives and mothers of the parties, apprized Ellswatta
and Areskoui, who happened not to be present. They
rallied all the disengaged and sober Shoshonee, for a
reserve; rushed upon the mass, and being fresh, and,

as lookers on, capable of availing themselves of all advantages,
they directly turned the scale, separated
the combatants, and terminated the fray for the time.
Any one could see by the looks, and understand by
the words of either party, that this would not be the
end of the fray. The Shienne commenced the use
of the knife, and were more numerous than the Shoshonee.
Eight of the former had fallen, and nine of
the latter, a sanguinary and fatal issue of such a
quarrel. A few only were wounded; for such was
the envenomed rage of the combat, that each of the
slain had fallen pierced by numerous mortal thrusts.

While Ellswatta reasoned, expostulated, and inflicted
blows, knocking down more than one refractory
Indian, who wished to renew the fight, Areskoui
beckoned Nelesho aside. `Follow me, Shienne,' he
said, `far enough from this accursed fray, that it shall
want thy presence and countenance; and it will cease
of itself.' `Let them command, who have power to
enforce obedience,' fiercely rejoined the other. `I
have that power,' calmly replied the half breed chief,
`and, unless thou compliest, I will instantly shoot thee
on the spot.' Nelesho knew both the truth and spirit
of the chief; and instantly copying his self command,
doggedly followed him. The eyes of the combatants
were too intently turned upon Ellswatta and their
bleeding friends, to remark the retiring chiefs. They
were a considerable distance from the fray, before
their absence was perceived. A clump of pawpaws
screened them from observation; and they halted behind
it. `What wouldst thou with me, half breed
Shoshonee,' fiercely cried Nelesho? `I would fain
ask of thee, Shienne, whether thou intendest rebellion
or not? Blood has flowed already; and more is like
to flow. Do not I know that thou, that thy hate and
intrigue, and that thy dark and brooding purpose is at
the bottom of the whole?' `Ah, babbler!' replied

the Shienne, `thou hast learned this war of words and
abuse from the pale face.' `Base and bad Shienne,'
retorted the chief, `thou art too vindictive, too much
of an old woman, to fight thyself; and thou urgest these
simple, honest, ignorant hunters, to spill each other's
blood, because thou hatest me. Thou hast in thee
the living spirit of the bad Maniton. Hearken, Shienne.
Thou whisperest, like a base coward, among
thy own people and the traitors of mine, that Wakona
hath medicined me, and that I am melted down to the
spirit of an old woman. Thus hast thou fostered a
contumacious, revengeful and bloody spirit between
the two people, encouraged by the hope of anarchy.
All yonder blood is of thy spilling. Hearken; to prove
to thee, that thou hast said the thing, that is not, and
that I am still, and will be thy liege chief, and a full
and sufficient man for thee, I here defy thee to single
and mortal combat. Here is my dirk. There is thine;
and the time is opportune. See, if I am an old woman.
Weak and melted down and medicined as I
may be, there is enough of me left for thee, base Shienne!'

Nelesho was as cunning, as he was vindictive; and
relied more on a secret, than an open revenge. He
paused a few moments, as if in deep mental deliberation.
Assuming then a coolness, as of perfect self-possession,
he advanced to the chief, with the gesture
and the look of peace. `Chief,' he said, `thou
art in wrath; but thou hast spoken right words. Thou
knowest, that I value the lives of the red people as
much as thyself. I will not fight thee now, Areskoui;
and thou mayest put it to fear of thee, if thou wilt.—
Thou knowest, that I hate thee. Does not Wakona
love thee; and will not I hate whatever she loves?
May the Master of Life grant, that the accursed pale
face may be her choice. Curse on that dastard pale
face. Julius, who babbled all my secrets to her. I

would love thee, and join hands, if thou wouldst institute
a war of extermination of the accursed pale-face.
But I will not fight thee now. Let us return to our
people. Whatever rights of treaty thy father claimeth,
I will execute. This is a fray of drunkenness,
and not of my seeking, as thou sayest. One more of
thy people has fallen than mine. Let the balance of
retribution be settled by lot. Mayest thou not show
the old woman, as much, by letting forth the fury of
thy rage, as by flying the fight? I am calm, as thou
seest, and for peace. Let us return, and keep peace
between our people.' So saying, Nelesho turned, and
left him, walking back to his people.

Ellswatta had stayed the fight. The young chiefs
returned with inveterate, but composed indignation
in their countenances. A dead stillness pervaded
the crowd; while Areskoui whispered his father, and
Nelesho some of his confidential sub-chiefs. `Art thou
for war with us, Nelesho,' sternly asked Ellswatta;
`or wilt thou choose, that the blood of this quarrel be
enquired into in council.' `In council, chief,' replied
the Shienne, with dogged composure. While the
wives and mothers were washing the slain warriors,
and wailing their dirge, the council drums beat, and
the council was convoked in the council house. The
same men, who but a few moments before, had been
rushing upon each other, like exasperated demons,
now calmly took their places with murky tranquility
in the council house, most impressively demonstrating
the silent, but irresistible influence of Indian usage.

The circumstances of the recent bloody affray were
carefully scrutinized. Various warriors made speeches
on the occasion; and among the rest, the plausible
orator Tutsaugee. His judgment was to bury the
horrible transaction in oblivion, calling up, as little as
might be, the babble, feuds, and hatreds of the two
tribes. `Blood has been shed,' said he. `But each

fallen warrior has a shade to accompany his spirit to
the sunless valley, save one. One Shoshonee shade
would go, mourning and alone to the land of souls;
and they would deride our people for sending down to
the sunless valley a Shoshonee, without a Shienne
for his companion. But, to find that companion in
this way of enquiring, would call up all the circumstances
of the fight anew; and embitter a hundred
fold all the existing animosities. Let us resort to the
ancient way of our people. Let the Shienne spirit,
to accompany the slain Shoshonee, be settled by lot;
and then the Master of Life will determine.' This
counsel almost unanimously prevailed. The voices
of the nation being taken, a great majority, even
among the Shienne, were for the lot. Nelesho, in a
single remark, gave his voice to the same effect.

Three hundred rods, black, and of the same size
and dimensions, were immediately prepared, corresponding
to the number of Shienne who acknowledged
themselves to have been at the affray. Among the
rods was a single white one. Whoever drew that
rod was to be offered up by a hatchet blow on the
head, to appease the spirit of the unavenged Shoshonee.
The eldest medicine man prayed to the Wahcondah,
to give a decision according to equity. The
drums beat. Each of the three hundred Shienne was
to be blindfolded, and in turn walk by the rods, draw
one, and pass on, until the doomed Shienne should
take the white rod. Fifty had already passed, when
an aged woman, a widow, who had crowded to the
fight in extreme anxiety for her only son, drew the
fatal white rod. The drawing was followed by a
general groan; for every one was aware, that no dispositions
to join in the fight had mixed her with the
combatants. `It is thus,' murmured the fierce warriors,
`that the Master of Life rewards parental affection!'
Though the issue of this tragic transaction

may be viewed as an episode in these annals, it is
an impressive illustration of the energetic influence
of the unwritten laws of opinion, and prescription, and
immemorial usage among this interesting people.—
This episode is given, as it was written in verse by
Frederic, who witnessed the impressive spectacle;
and on their subsequent voyage together, showed his
version to Jessy.

The vengeance of Nelesho, not yet fully matured,
was gathering venom and consistency in secret,
through this whole winter. Again the storms poured,
and the sleet and snow drave down the valley.—
Again the evening passed cheerfully in the dwelling
of William Weldon. Again Areskoui sat, and listened
in silent sadness, as the song and the tale and
the delightful conversation pervaded the circle, assembled
round the domestic hearth. Jessy would
have pronounced it the happiest winter that had yet
passed over her head, but for the increasing gloom of
the young chief, and a dejection, amounting at times
to visible illness, which manifestly preyed scarcely
less deeply on the bosoms of his parents. In the docile
and charming Katrina she had found not only a
pupil who met all her instructions, but a companion,
who loved her with all the affection of a sister, and
reverenced, and listened to her, as a superior being,
with unlimited respect and devotedness.

`Why might not Katrina wed the chief?' one day
asked Frederic, blushing deeply. The thought flashed,
like a ray of light, across her mind. `It is the
very thing,' she answered. `The child has been
brought up among the Indians. She has not an association
with the white race, except such, as she has recently
formed among us. I thank you, Frederic, for
the hint. She is young, docile, intelligent, beautiful
and good.' From that time, she exerted all honest
management, to inspire a mutual affection between
them. To her pupil she uttered her own true and
inmost thoughts concerning the worth, honor, and
nobleness of the young chief; and to him she showed
off the charms, and the intelligence and amiability of
the blooming Spanish girl. The heart of Katrina
was full of tenderness, and she soon began to tremble
at her own success. `When you speak of him with
so much warmth, and in such high praise,' asked Katrina,

`do you not love him yourself? Would I win
him from my dear sister, if I might? Is it thus, that
you estimate the tenderness and truth of your Katrina?
Beside, I am both too young, and utterly unworthy
to wed so great and noble a chief.' `For the first,
Katrina,' replied Jessy, smiling, `it is a defect, of
which you are curing every day; and I much mistake,
if the heart of my Katrina says, that she is too young.
Make yourself perfectly easy on my account. Be
assured, that nothing would give me so much pleasure,
as to see you wife of the chief; and my dear
Katrina,' she added, kissing both her cheeks, `the
girl, that I love, is not unworthy of Areskoui.' It
was easy to inspire in the artless and ardent bosom of
the Spanish orphan, who would have loved whomsoever
her adopted sister recommended to her, an evanescent,
but strong liking for the chief; but all her
management was utterly lost on the other party.—
Sometimes the chief seemed to be conscious of the
wishes of Jessy, as she played with the glossy curls of
her protege; for he impatiently arose, and left her,
murmuring to himself, as he went, `it is cruel in Wakona,
not only to shut her own heart against me, but
to attempt to engage that worn heart for another.'

The fatal effects of the influence of money, avarice,
intemperance and the general bearings of the cupidity
of the whites upon the untrained and lawless nature
of the red men, were becoming every day more
conspicuous. Hatch had grown to be rich, and replaced
his exhausted stores of spirits with wicked activity.
About his store the brutified and drunken Indians
were continually congregated, and wallowing.
There were drunkenness and low debauchery, and
gambling; and the horses and peltries and furs and
salmon and disposables of the Indians, went for a
song; and every time the unfortunate beings were
cheated, he acquired more capital, and accumulated

power to cheat them again, and to accelerate their
ruin. A fixed dislike existed between him and Ellswatta;
for neither he or his son ever tasted spirits;
and they were the persevering heads of a temperate
party, opposers of the introduction of ardent spirits in
every form. His remonstrances and example, together
with the preaching of Elder Wood, had hitherto
restrained drunkenness to certain bounds; and
stayed the plague to a degree among the Shoshonee.
But every convert to ardent spirits went over to the
standard of Nelesho; and became refractory, and a
partizan against his chief. Many a sad conversation
had Ellswatta with Elder Wood upon the subject.—
`The accursed medicine drink,' said the hoary chief,
`will destroy my nation.' Elder Wood mourned in
concert, declaring, `that the influence was still more
fatal to all his purposes; and that he was painfully
admonished, that the detestable church of Hatch received,
and was like to receive, much more numerous
converts than his.' But no plan, that they could
devise, promised to strike at the root of the mischief,
except to expel Hatch from the nation, and interdict
all intercourse with Astoria. Indeed Elder Wood
warned the chief, that unless decisive measures of
that sort were taken, to prevent the growing evil, it
would soon be too late. From the frequent journies,
back and forward, of Baptiste, from his ample and
unwonted supply of money; and more than all, from
the mysterious intelligence which appeared to exist
between Nelesho and Astoria, he was satisfied some
dark and fatal plot was in agitation. `Be it so,' said
the hoary chief. `My joints are becoming stiff; and
the blood creeps slowly in my veins; and Areskoui,
who was once as the sun in his brightness, and as the
bald eagle in his courses on the mountain tops, has
become sad and discouraged. Alas! I fear, the Master
of Life has destined me to see much sorrow, before
I go down to the sunless valley. Ask the Wahcondah
of the pale face to aid me; for I am in perplexity
and sorrow; and know not which way to turn for
light.'

The sweet Spring came once more from the south
sea, renewing the deep music of the unchained mountain
torrents,

and Jessy, as she once more saw nature in verdure
and blossoms, felt the delicious reverie of the season,
as she respired the balmy air, and heard the croaking
of the numberless dwellers in the water; and the
more cheerful songs of the tenants of the air, the plains
and forests. A dark presentiment, as she afterwards
mentioned, continually dwelt on her mind. `Alas!'
she sighed to herself, `it is my last happy spring;' and
she more than once declared to Frederic, `that she
felt a kind of internal upbraiding, when she relaxed
her mind to the cheerfulness of the season, and the
gaiety of health and youth.'

It was a most charming Spring afternoon, when the
red bud and the cornel were just beginning to be in
full blossom, when this conversation took place.—
Frederic remarked, with unwonted vivacity, `that he
had not supposed such a mind, as hers, could suffer
from superstitious credulity in presentiment.' He
observed with extreme pain, that her eyes filled with
tears. Ellswatta and his son, and Elder Wood, with
a select party of Shoshonee, had been absent some
time up the Sewasserna, on an expedition to trap the
last Spring beaver. The Shienne had determined,
in council, to hunt this season by themselves, on the
plains of the Missouri. Preparatory for this expedition,
they had been down to Astoria, to procure the
requisite supplies. They came back with Nelesho at
their head; having been abusive and cruel on the
way to the lower Shoshonee out settlers. Arrived

at the store of Hatch, probably by design, they were
furnished with a sufficiency of rum to create half intoxication,
and inspire a maddening appetite for more.
They loudly called on him to furnish it. The Trader
insisted, that he had none; and made a semblance of
rating them for their quarrelsome and drunken deportment.
`Give us rum,' said they, `or we will enter
your cellar, and burst your barrels.' Apparently
to get rid of them, he told them to `go to William
Weldon's, for that he had whole pipes of brandy and
wine stored in his house.' `What, the hater of rum,
the supporter of the medicine man, the great friend
of our tyrant, he sup brandy in secret, like a red man!'
`Certainly,' cried Nelesho, `he has more money and
more brandy, than all the rest of the nation together.'
`It is a good time,' they shouted, `to empty some of
his casks. Ellswatta and Areskoui and our oppressors
are away. Let us to the house!' `Ay,' muttered
Nelesho to himself; `and now let the disdainful pale
face and her paramour beware of the little white men
of the mountains, and the sign of the Wahcondah at
the salmon fishery.' At the same time he said to
Baptiste, `if any harm comes of drinking the white
man's brandy, we will be over the mountains with
Wakona, before the return of the chief. If he comes
to attack us, we can fight him, or join ourselves to
the Black-feet. One master is as good as another.'
Away they all went, shouting, and whooping, and
yelling and following out the accursed plan, that had
been preconcerted for them. `Ah!' said Hatch to
Baptiste, as the rear of them cleared out from his
premises, `they will play h—l with the old fellow and
his pretty daughter, and that d—d Frederic, this
time. They are perfect infernals. An angel of God
could not save them. I wish the Kentuckian were
there too. I shall never have peace, or a free running
trade, till the whole nest is smoked out. Look
you, Baptiste. Keep our counsels. Your own bacon
depends on it, you know. The old devil is as
rich as a Jew. I will be his administrator, which, it
is three to one, will be an office called for in a couple
of hours. Who will cage the bird, Julius, or Nelesho?
Remember, Baptiste, if the affair goes wrong,
I scolded them, as drunkards, and bade them not go
near William Weldon's.' `Ah! sacre,' cried the Canadian,
`me dem sharp. Me know two ting. Me
put all straight;' and away he followed, like a cowardly
wolf in the rear, to scent the carnage at a distance.

The grey of evening twilight had come; and William
and Yensi, Frederic, Jessy and Katrina had just
sat down to their evening tea. The yells and shouts
and whoopings of the infuriated and drunken Shienne
were heard advancing upon the dwelling. `There
they come from Astoria,' cried Yensi. `Jessy and
Katrina, I bid you go into the other room, and fasten
the bolt.' `For God's sake,' said William Weldon,
`Frederic, have our arms in readiness; and bolt the
door. The chief promised me, he would be back two
days since. There is murder in their note. If we
cannot keep them out, we are undone.' The fearful
suspense was of but short duration. In a moment
the fore front of the mob was at the door, yelling for
admittance. What was the palpitation of the poor
young tremblers in the inner apartment, as they heard
the door burst open with a crash, and perceived, that
the apartment was full of savages, yelling for brandy.
`Oh Tien! Oh God!' cried Yensi, `this is what I have
so long dreaded. The fearful hour is come. My
dear William,' she continued, kissing both his cheeks,
`give them all they demand. It is our only chance.'
`What is that, she says?' cried Nelesho fiercely.—
`Give it in our speech, old man. Where is thy daughter?'
At the same time a rush of Indians burst open

the inner door, and exposed the trembling girls to
view, both on their knees in prayer. By this time
William Weldon had handed bottles of wine to a
number of the savages, who were loudly singing the
war song, and swilling the wine. Nelesho poured a
quantity into a pitcher, and insisted, that Jessy should
pledge him. `Drink to me, Wakona,' he said, `after
the fashion of the pale face.' As she shrunk back
in faintness, he grasped her flowing curls. `Remember,'
said he, `the salmon fishery, and my curse!' At
the same time he began to drag her towards the door.
Frederic and William Weldon, almost at the same
moment, dealt him a blow with their yangers, which
nearly felled him. In an instant the fate of the family
was sealed. Frederic was trodden under foot.—
`Nelesho,' shrieked Jessy, `spare my parents; and do
with me what thou wilt! I implore thee by the Master
of Life, only spare my parents!' She held up
her hands in the attitude of earnest and humble enfreaty.
But it availed not. A number of hatchets
fell at once upon the head of Yensi. The blood
streamed down her face. She grasped the extended
hand of her husband. `Dear William,' she said, `rescue
Jessy.' `Yensi! Yensi!' he cried, `these are the
fiends, that I have madly loved, and trusted, as friends.
Forgive me, dear Yensi!' As he uttered these words,
holding his bleeding wife in his arms, a drunken Shienne
fired a yager upon him, the ball of which passed
through the bodies of both, and they fell, embracing
each other in the strong grasp of spasm, and were still
in death. Frederic had arisen amidst the confusion,
had borne Jessy through the struggling crowd, that
had fortunately extinguished the lights, and had extricated
her from the mass, and had borne her out of
the door. The fierce and drunken savages within
were dealing blows in the darkness upon each other;
crying out `kill Wakona!—kill the pale face Frederic!'
Yells and shrieks issued from the place, as from
an infernal pandemonium. At this moment, a long
and loud Shoshonee cry was heard. The whole uproar
within hushed in a moment to the stillness of
death. Areskoui and his father, and the whole party
had arrived. `Vengeance! Vengeance!' cried Areskoui,
in a voice of thunder. The lights of the returned
party presented a full view of the work of death,
that was going on. Frederic was chafing the temples
of Jessy, whose face, cold as marble, and fair hair
were all covered with blood, and who, in insensibility,
had lost for a moment the consciousness of all the
horrors about her. The dwelling was in flames, and
the bright blaze burst forth from the windows and the
doors. The drunken Shienne were reeling forth
from their work of death, to avoid the conflagration.
As Frederic continued solely engrossed with the effort
to recover Jessy from her faintness, he could only
explain, as far as he understood it, the horrible deed
that had been perpetrated within.

Some of the Shienne sprang away, and escaped.
But Areskoui raised his war cry; and his devoted
friends and followers immediately formed such a compact
mass around the conflagration, that none could
escape. The Shoshonee hatchet and knife were then
exerted with fatal effect upon the confused and intoxicated
Shienne, astonished with the suddenness of
this unexpected retribution; and reeling out in dismay,
and unprepared for the combat. Pentanona,
and some of the more devoted followers of Areskoui,
had penetrated the dwelling, notwithstanding the
fierceness of the flames. The bleeding bodies of William
and Yensi were dragged from amidst the fire.
`That,' cried Frederic, as he turned his eyes for a
moment from the still insensible Jessy, `that is the
work of the accursed Nelesho.' As he said it, the
fierce young savage, in his gigantic dimensions and

foaming with rage, rushed towards Areskoui. All
other deeds of vengeance were suspended for the
moment, to watch these rivals in mortal combat. It
was the struggle of Hercules and Cacus. They
grasped each other. They strained their muscles,
to throw each other to the earth. Nelesho had more
strength—the other more nimbleness of movement.
Each had disengaged his knife, and each had inflicted
wounds. At one moment, one party seemed about to
clear himself, and be able to dispatch the other. Then
the other, by a sudden and fortunate effort, reversed the
chances. Areskoui apparently had the worst of the
conflict, and fell beneath his foe; but almost, as he fell,
the other gave a demoniac yell, and bounding from
his victim, sprang up in the air, and instantly afterwards
tumbled upon his face, the blood gurgling from
his mouth and breast. He had received a thrust to
the heart from the knife of his foe, as he threw him
down. Instantly commenced an indiscriminate
slaughter of the Shienne. A hundred of these intoxicated
fiends were offered up in a few moments to expiate
the murder of the husband and wife. Elder
Wood laid about him like a fury; and the tomahawk
of Ellswatta was once more plied with the energy of
his earlier years. Resistance soon ceased. The remaining
Shienne threw down their arms, proffered the
humblest submission, and even Areskoui bade his
followers spare the blood of the unresisting. Some,
who were pointed out, as ringleaders, were still dispatched
on the spot. Many Shienne voices proclaimed
aloud, that Baptiste and Hatch had been
guilty of planning this affair, and orders were sent to
have them arrested and forthcoming. But, on the
first news of the return of the Shoshonee, aware of
their chances, they left all, jumped into a periogue,
and began to descend the Sewasserna. In the confusion
of the moment, no one thought of pursuing them.
Two Shienne, who were indicated as having been the
principal agents in commencing the work of blood,
were reserved for the flames; and the remainder, not
only humbled, and in despair at the fall of their leader,
but absolutely enfeebled by the issue of this bloody
encounter, proffered, in the most abject terms, unreserved
submission to Ellswatta. They were the more
readily believed, pardoned and dismissed to their
homes, as knowing, that but for Nelesho, they would
never have committed this work of death.

After long efforts, Jessy was restored to consciousness,
only to learn by degrees the full extent of her
misery. She awakened to remembrance on a mattress
in Ellswatta's dwelling. Frederic and Elder
Wood, Ellswatta and Areskoui hung over her. Katrina,
who had fortunately disengaged herself, and
fled at the commencement of the fray, held one hand,
and Josepha held the other. `Tell me,' she said, in
a faint and feeble voice, `if they are both murdered?'
`They are both, as I trust,' responded Elder Wood, `in
the presence of God; and I would, dear orphan, that
thou couldst say, `the will of God be done'.' `I can
say it,' she replied. She folded her hands, looked
upwards, and with a long drawn sigh, she uttered,
`Thy will be done!' But her heavy eye indicated,
that the sense of misery and death was too intense
and revolting, to be as yet felt in all its real bitterness.
The thunder-stroke seemed to have produced
a benumbing torpor. She was weak, and exhausted;
and readily sunk into broken though often interrupted
slumbers through the night.

The house of William Weldon was burned. The
bodies were carried to the nearest unoccupied dwelling,
the deserted house of Hatch. Elder Wood had
taken charge to see, that the bodies were washed, and
robed for their last sleep. The light of the returning
morning opened to the pale and desolate orphan a full

survey and sense of her misery. `Carry me,' she said
to Elder Wood, `to the bodies of my parents.' The
family of the chief and many sympathising Shoshonee
followed. Supported on one side by Elder Wood, and
on the other by Katrina, she was led out of the house of
the chief. The smouldering ruins of her father's house
still sent up smoke and sparks. The road, over
which she passed, still reeked with the crimson of the
fallen Shienne. She gave no tears, and apparently
little consideration to this spectacle; and even when
she entered the large apartment of the house of
Hatch, and saw the bodies of her father and mother,
robed in white, and in the impressive stillness of death,
side by side, did she give way to the cries and demonstrations
of the superficial grief of common minds, easily
excited, loudly expressed, and soon passing away.
The orphan fell on her knees, kissed their cold cheeks
again and again, folded her hands, looked upwards,
and for some moments said not a word. Then a short
convulsive sob was the prelude to tears, that fell silently
and seemed to yield relief. The stern face of
Ellswatta was bedewed with answering tears; and all,
that were present, wept with her. `Wakona,' said
the aged chief, `thy parents have gone down to the
sunless valley; and thou shalt be the child of Ellswatta
and Josepha.' `Ye are kind,' she answered.
`Ye have always been so; but Elder Wood, thou art
my father, if thou wilt own a friendless orphan, who
has now none left her, to consider as relatives, but
thou and her heavenly Father.' The venerable man
arose, and folded her in his arms; and repeated in an
often interrupted voice, `thou art my child, Jessy. I
have loved thee, as a father from the first. As a Kentuckian,
much more as a Christian, and most of all as
an orphan, I assume all the duties of a father; and
`God do so to me and more,' if I ever desert thee;
only break not my heart by continuing to weep.'

They would then have persuaded her to retire, and
remain at Ellswatta's habitation, until the funeral was
over. But she immediately and resolutely insisted upon
watching with the bodies of her parents, the remainder
of the day alone. They left her to the sad communion
of her choice; and none knew the thoughts
of the lonely one, as she sat by the silent remains,
feeding upon remembrances, and meditations, but that
Being, who knoweth the unutterable words of the
heart.

A strange and fearful curiosity induced her to remove
the grave clothes, and examine the ghastly
wounds, by which they fell. `It is too certain,' she
said, `that ye can never, never return to your orphan,
whom you have left to struggle behind. Ah! that ye
could reverse the unchangeable decree, and either
revisit me, or take your daughter with you; that
where you are, she also might be.' Then she cried
in the bitterness of her spirit, `O most merciful, wherefore
broughtest thou me into life, gavest me such good
and dear parents, and then removedst them from me
by death, to leave me thus alone? Ah! that no eye
had seen me; that I had been carried from my birth
to my grave. Then the insupportable agony of this
heart would have been still, as yours; and I should
have slept, and been at rest with the great and small of
the earth, with tenants of cabins, and them, that filled
houses with gold and silver; that as an infant, that
never saw the light, I had not been. Why was light
given to them that long for death, and seek for it, as
for hid treasure?' Thus in the same strains, which
the heart dictates to the last degrees of human misery,
in every age, the orphan poured her lament, in the
words of the man of Uz.

But are the day was spent, better and more befitting
thoughts came with the returning dictates of reason
and religion to her bosom. `Dear ones,' she said,

`your debt is paid. Your trial is over. I ought rather
to rejoice, that you have weathered the storm, and
have entered the haven, `where the prisoner and the
weary rest together, and where the wicked cease
from troubling, and the oppressed hear not the voice
of their master. Blessed are the dead, who die in
the Lord; who rest from their labors, and whose works
do follow them.'

These lamentations of the heart, in its own language,
have power to sooth it at such an hour, and
on such occasions. `Why should I mourn,' she said,
`for them? It is rather for myself, left among the
same people, and exposed to the same doom, that I
ought to mourn.'

Elder Wood had consented, in her stead, to take
charge of the sad solemnities of preparing for a funeral
of such rites and such decency, as circumstances
would admit. But, much as he urged it, with the
added entreaties of Frederic and Areskoui, no persuasion
would induce her to leave the apartment, or
desert the remains of her parents, or allow any one to
remain with her, to share in the sacred privacy of
her griefs. She tarried there alone, through the
long night, evincing thoughts, and a spirit, utterly
unlike what is usually manifested by persons of her
sex, under the flattering unction, that delicacy and
sensibility ought not to be shocked by such sights.

But when the light of the morning had chased away
the stars, she saw, that nature had written her inexorable
doom on these countenances, so dear to her;
and that it became her duty, to yield the changing
elements back to their common origin.

The funeral was for the evening of that day. Ellswatta
had loved William Weldon. A thousand circumstances
of common disposition, age, and fellow-feeling
had brought them into the strictest intimacy
of tried friendship. The heart of Ellswatta was deeply

smitten by this event. His grief, though less deep,
was not less sincere, than the orphan's. He was the
favorite of the Shoshonee; and Jessy was their pride
and their idol. Every circumstance concurred to
give grief and solemnity to the funeral. Elder Wood
could not pronounce the names of his departed friends,
except with starting tears. Frederic and Areskoui
again found a bond of union in the reality and sacredness
of their love and sorrow, and were chiefly anxious
to detach the orphan from the bodies of her parents,
and to put her under the influence of time, to
moderate a sorrow which threatened to deprive her
of life, or unsettle her reason. It was with difficulty,
under the peculiar excitements and aggravations of
this scene, that the Shoshonee were restrained from
prosecuting their revenge still further upon the Shienne.
But, as a punishment, every one, that was
ascertained to have been at the massacre, was ordered
to be present at the funeral, wearing a badge of disgrace,
that they might behold and feel the misery,
which their base treachery had inflicted, and the respect
and veneration of the Shoshonee for the memory
of the deceased. They were painted in blue.—
Their totem was reversed; and the Shienne, who
were not at the massacre, now that it had not prospered,
with the common impulse of human nature, joined
themselves proudly to the Shoshonee, and looked
askance and with derision upon their disgraced countrymen.

Under the sycamore, and near the grave of Lenahah,
the bodies were put down in coffins made under
the direction of Elder Wood, and painted black. A
more ample congregation of Shoshonee had been as-sembled
on no occasion; nor could a more interesting
object any where be seen, than Jessy robed in black,
as she sat on the rustic bench, beside the bodies.—
Opposite her was Frederic in mourning, and Areskoui,

thin, pale, and evidently in affliction only less
deep than hers. Elder Wood was still more over-come
with emotion, than at the funeral of his own
Lenahah. He attempted to commence, twice or
thrice; and an irrepressible burst of emotion from the
heart cut short the effort. For some time, after he
commenced, his words were slow and often interrupted.
He briefly descanted upon the solemnity of the
occasion, that had called them together; saying as
little, as might be said, upon the guilt of the perpetrators
of the massacre. `It was of no use,' he said,
`to recur to the past, except for instruction for the
future. Thoughts on purposes of revenge would not
awaken the sleep of the tomb. Though the deceased
had not professed religion,' he continued, `they had
lived it. He had no reason to doubt, and he did not
doubt, that they were happy with their Saviour. He
wished therefore to sing the hymn,

Nor was the music less impressive, than that, which
was called forth at the burial of the Song Sparrow.
There could not be imagined a spectacle of more
solemn and affecting interest, than that of this venerable
Apostle among the Shoshonee, holding his hands
towards heaven, in prayer over these remains of
friends, `who,' he said, `had been dear to him as the
light of his eyes.' `If my griefs are great,' said he,
`what must be hers, who sits beside the remains of her
parents?' Every eye was turned on the mourner,
her disheveled curls, floating over her crape, looking
steadily on the coffins with a tearless eye, that spoke
deeper grief than that which is loud and overflowing
in tears. `The tomb,' continued the Apostle, `closes
over them; and there is an end of their sojourn in
this vale, which is to all a vale of tears. A Christian
burial is a sublime spectacle every where. It

is peculiarly so here. These ancient mountains stand
silent witnesses of our sorrow. In an hour nothing
of these dear ones will be seen, but two heaps of fresh
earth. The red men, I doubt not, will long bear testimony
to the worth of the departed, and the dreadful
circumstances, under which they died. But it
matters not to them, that no sumptuous monument
marks their humble place of rest. It is of no consequence
to them, that these awful barriers of nature
rise, to keep all but red men from this secluded abode.
When they were born, a light was kindled within
them, which shall burn on to all eternity. How it
will fare with that eternal being, inhabiting this
tenement of clay, is the only point worth a moment's
serious concern. Our friends, we have all reason to
believe, rest with the Redeemer. As inheritors of
such hopes, we call upon our dear orphan, to mourn
not as those, `who have no hope.' My text is “I am
the resurrection and the life.” He became gradually
warmed with his sublime subject; and as he waxed
into power, he disengaged himself from that part
of his dress, that encumbered him, and gave a funeral
sermon, with no audience but red men in the midst
of those sublime piles of nature, that would have
touched the hearts of the most polished audience in
a temple of marble. `Daughter of sorrow,' he said,
in conclusion, `arouse thyself from the dust. Remember
their nobler nature and thine. Let it be
good for thee, that thou hast been thus terribly afflicted.
Thou hast now seen things in the light of
Divine truth. Every film of youthful illusion is rudely
removed from thine eye, that thou mayest see this
earth as it is. Look upon these enduring and sublime
mountains. They are not everlasting, and
they shall fade. But a little while, and thy parents
would have gone to their everlasting home, in
the gradual decay and death of nature. Thine own
beauty will fade, wither and decay, like a leaf. All,
that thou seest about thee, shall vanish and pass
away. But, daughter of sorrow, thy parents live,
and greatly live, as we trust, with Jesus, among his
own redeemed in the eternal mansions. What is
before thee is only terrible to the natural eye. Thou
must learn to see it all, as I trust I do, with an eye of
faith. But a little, and all this evanescent show will
vanish in smoke; and we shall meet, where there are
no more tears, no sin, nor groans, in the utter assurance
of the peace of our Saviour. Thou shalt hold
out thine arms, and embrace the spirits of these loved
ones in the secure and eternal rest of heaven.' With
such themes he sought to arouse the faith, and cheer
the gloom of the mourning orphan.

The Shoshonee then commenced their own appropriate
rites. The medicine men beat their drums;
and the elder chiefs chimed in with the death song
of Ellswatta. `My head is hoary, and my friends are
going before me into the sunless valley. Master of
Life, I mourn for my friends. May they find their
dark way to the hills of paradise.' The bodies were
both deposited in the same grave. Elder Wood gave
his arm to the orphan mourner, who returned to the
habitation of Ellswatta, to pass the night.

For the two or three succeeding days, Jessy remained
in a situation of passive and gloomy repose;
as one who had been bewildered by an overwhelming
calamity, and retaining but an indistinct consciousness
of what had happened. Frederic she saw, and
spoke mournfully to him about her plans for the future,
without any recurrence to the past. In the
same way she received the efforts of Areskoui to offer
her condolence. Ellswatta and Josepha had been
the intimates of her parents, and their words of affection
and counsel aroused her, and she listened sadly,
and showed grateful and affectionate confidence.—

But with none of them, in the nature of things, could
there be deep filial reliance and intimacy. It was
only towards Elder Wood, that such feelings existed
in full force; and with him she entered into long and
confidential discussions, touching her course of duty
and propriety for the future. To remain in the family
of Ellswatta was every way improper. To occupy
the house of Hatch, who had absconded, indeed,
and left it vacant, was a thing not to be thought of.
`I must return to the world,' she said meekly, and as
if enquiring his thoughts. `It will be hard for me,'
he replied, `to leave these people, where I yet hoped
to be useful, or to obtain the crown of martyrdom.
These mountains, this valley, and this secluded spot,
these people and their ways, the yager, the fishing
spear, and traps, I confess, are dear to me. I have
been so long from society, that I have lost all taste
for its pleasures and occupations. I should be out of
place, and not at home in it, and here it is otherwise.
Besides, I love to sit by the grave of Lenahah.' Jessy
answered, only by raising to him eyes swimming
in tears. As if in reply to the appeal, he continued,
`but I see no future security for you in this place. I
confess, I feel, as if propriety called for your return
to society; unless, indeed'— `That is out of the question,'
she answered, `even to be a matter of a moment's
thought at this time. I must leave the Shoshonee,
leave'— and she burst into tears, and could
not proceed. `Jessy,' he answered, `you are right—
I am rejoiced to see, that the power to form right resolutions
still remains to you.' `My duty,' she replied,
`remains, though they are gone.' `My adopted child,
`God do so to me and more,' if I do not follow you,
hunter and almost Shoshonee, as I am. I have not
forgotten the man and the Christian in the forester
and Kentuckian. It will be right, too, on another account.
These young men ought to be left to the influence
of absence, reflection and time. These are
the only remedies for cases like theirs. If you are
determined, so also am I, and the sooner we are away
the better.'

This resolution produced various and strong sensations,
as soon as it was made known. The Shoshonee
generally murmured, for Elder Wood had become
popular, and Wakona was an object of idolatrous fondness.
Different and varying expressions of grief, anger
and gloom were visible in every countenance.
They said, `if the medicine man and Wakona wish
to leave us, because the Shienne have proved wolves,
we cannot help it. We have defended them. We
will defend them. But the Master of Life would be
angry with us, if we strove to control their wish to
leave us.' Ellswatta and Josepha said to each other,
`Wakona is a fair flower to behold; but if she will not
wed our son, the sooner she is removed from his sight,
the sooner we may hope he will forget her, and resume
the spirit of a chief.' Frederic was decided in
a moment to leave the vale at the same time.

Areskoui had sufficient combination of thought, and
forecast of the ways of thinking, and being influenced
among the whites, not to have foreseen, that this would
be the probable issue of the position in which Jessy was
placed. But, when Elder Wood announced the approaching
event to him, a paleness of deeper gloom
came over his countenance. `I have expected it,' he
said, `and am prepared; and this, medicine man, is the
end of your medicine talks. The salvation of all these
red men is of less account, after all, it appears, in your
eye, than the temporal happiness of Wakona. There
is an end, then, of all our huntings, and trappings and
long talks together. Oh! medicine man, this memory
is forever hidden in my heart. Will all thought
of the young chief pass from thy mind, when thou
seest him no more? And Wakona—Master of Life!

But she shall see, that Areskoui is neither an old woman,
nor a child; and that he knows, as well to be
silent, and to die, as he has done to slay the murderer
of her parents. Oh! may she find better friends;
those, who love her more, she can never find. She
cannot but remember these mountains, this stream,
these trees, this spot of her birth, our sports of infancy.
Something, of what I have been to her, and done
for her, must remain. All cannot vanish. I have
said. The Master of Life forbid, that we should wish
to control Wakona. Say to her, that Areskoui will
follow her with his young warriors, as far as the town
of the pale face; that he will return, as an eagle to
his mountains, to hallow, and protect the grave of her
parents. He will wish to die; that his spirit may fly
beyond the mountains and the sea, to be present unseen
with Wakona.'

The arrangements of Jessy were not long in completing.
She had seen the last brand of her paternal
home cease to smoke. She had seen the bodies of
her parents washed from their stains of blood, and decently
deposited in the earth, with all the impressive
rites of Christian sepulture. She had passed much
of her time since, beside the narrow mound of fresh
mould, with all the ineffable emotions of an orphan
with a heart of the keenest and most profound sensibility.
`They are gone! They are gone!' she incessantly
repeated. `This is but unconscious dust; and
I must now seek for them in other worlds.' For some
days she had been an inmate of the house, which had
been built for Elder Wood and Lenahah; and it was
there, that the solemn and confidential conversations
between her and her adopted father took place.—
With him she read the scriptures; and conversed
about the way of salvation and the home of departed
spirits, the arguments and probabilities for their recognition
of each other, and carrying to the unknown

and eternal country the affections and the thoughts of
earth. `Oh!' she said, `may I but only see them and
know them again! May the wants of this bleeding
heart only be once more felt by them! May I once
more witness that sacred and home-felt smile of parental
tenderness! Let us only meet above sin, tears
and death!' She delighted to discuss the treasured
wisdom, the forbearing disinterestedness, the ever
watchful and studious tenderness of her father; the
glowing and fathomless affection of her mother, always
ending with the sad reflection—`all—all is past.'

It was painful to both to reflect, that calculations
of an entirely different character, and little harmonizing
with these profound sentiments, must be made.
Such calculations, however necessary, had been alike
foreign to the habits of both. Nor could Jessy refrain
from adverting to a new proof of the wise and
reflecting love of her father, little as he seemed to
think of money himself, in his having made such
ample provision for her on that head. His papers
were all found in a trunk in a passage in the cliff, which
the fire had not reached, and in the most perfect order.
All the requisite documents, that touched his annual
income, and her future inheritance, were drawn with
the most minute and orderly precision of legal exactness.
The original sum, deposited with `Swarts & Co.'
at Canton, with the annual addition of the interest to
the principal from the birth of Jessy, had swelled the
amount to a fortune, that abundantly met all her necessities
and wishes on that score. A statement of
the funds had been annually remitted from Canton,
with the most detailed and minute particularity. As
these tedious and voluminous reports had occasionally
met her eye, during the lifetime of her father, she
had almost blushed at these proofs of worldly wisdom.
Now the considerate forecast and kindness of these
precautions appeared in their proper light. Even these

provident provisions of parental solicitude for her future
welfare only proved more keenly the extent of
her loss. A full supply of ready money for all their
present exigencies, and for their contemplated voyage
to China, was found in the desk of her father. Every
thing evinced that this silent and meditative father
had calculated contingencies, and had arranged all
the future resources of his daughter.

Elder Wood at first expressed reluctance at the
idea of being attached to her fortunes, as a burden.
`I am strong,' he said, `and in full health. All the
mysteries of the spear and the trap, and all the skill
of a hunter, touching the value of the avails of his industry
and craft, are mine. With these I had neither
wants, nor fears for the future, as regards subsistence.
But, with respect to all the ways of living among
those people of ledgers and accounts current, I have
no more knowledge, than a Shoshonee.' But when
he saw, that Jessy considered such jealousies of independent
feeling, as originating in reluctance to assume
a parental charge and responsibility in relation to her,
he forebore. `I know,' he said, `that there is enough
for us both. I will no more distress thee, my child.
We will eat of the same bread, and drink of the same
cup; and I will never vex thee more in this view of
considering myself a burden.'

They were painfully aware, that a scene had occurred
in the habitation of the chief. Areskoui had
long and manfully struggled with his passion. But,
accustomed from his birth to give, rather than receive
the law, and having for so many years fostered this
overwhelming sentiment, it triumphed over him in
this instance; and for the first time in his life induced
him to show head-strong resolutions, that gave distress,
and almost anger to his parents. When the
time of Jessy's departure drew near, his original purpose,
to accompany her to Manitouna, or Astoria, and

then return, failed him. He gave fearful demonstrations,
that he had thoughts of forever leaving his parents,
his hereditary expectations, his tribe, his country,
and of following the steps of Jessy. This determination,
as might be expected, excited horror in his
parents. Ellswatta lost his wonted firmness, and scattered
his aged locks to the winds. `This, then,' said
he, `is the way in which the Wahcondah punishes
us, for holding out a fatherly hand to these pale faces.
There was truth even in Nelesho, who forewarned
me of this. He told me, that intercourse with them
would cause the hearts of our warriors to become
soft, and melt away; that our children would cease to
be strong red men, without gaining the character of
the whites. Thou wilt leave thy father, and thy
mother, then, Areskoui? Thou wilt leave thy rank
and expections, to follow Wakona for her fair face
and tresses? And what is worse, leave us for a pale
face, that despises and rejects thy love, and that flies
from us, as soon as her parents are no longer with
us! When thou leavest us, Areskoui, unless thou
wilt promise to return to be chief, after thy father
goes down to the sunless valley, I swear to thee by
the Wahcondah, by the shades of thy brave forefather
chiefs, that I will die. I will not survive thy
desertion. Undutiful son! Thou shalt kill thy father
and mother, for a fair face and flowing curls!' Josepha
meanwhile held him to her bosom. `Thy father,'
she cried, `speaks harshly. But thou canst never
desert the fond mother, that bore thee in her bosom.
I cheerfully renounced my father and my people,
and the joys and hopes of their way of life, that
I might nurse the pride of my spirit, in rearing a chief
for this noble people. Shall I see my son, the sole
hope of my heart, become a woman, to follow a pale
faced girl, that despises him, to go and be the slave of
the proud white people?'

Jessy was aroused from the torpor of her own grief,
by hearing of these agonizing conflicts in the family
of the chief. Disinterested generosity prevailed over
her own sorrows. She entreated Elder Wood to accompany
her to the habitation of the chief. She entered
upon them in the height of their discussion. Josepha
left the embrace of her son for that of the still
loved Jessy. `Wakona! Wakona!' she said, `thou
hast come at the right moment. Thou wilt not see
the hearts of the friends of thy parents broken. Thou
wilt learn our son to know, and to fulfil his duty.
Thou wilt either remain with us, and turn him from
his mad purposes; or in leaving us, thou wilt persuade
him to promise, that he will not basely renounce his
duties, to follow thee.' The clear and disciplined
mind of Jessy, immediately manifested the ascendency
of its powers. The terrible shock, which she had
recently experienced, had borne away all the little
minded restraints of supposed decorum and womanly
holding back. In earnest and full development of
her views and thoughts and her sense of duty, she
brought conviction of duty to the heart of the young
chief. `Wakona,' he said, `I have always regarded
thy words, as wisdom and truth. Thou hast conquered.
Parents, forgive the madness of your son. I
will go with thee to the place of the great periogues
of the white people. I will see thee borne away on
the illimitable salt lake, where the sun hides himself.
I will then hold up my hands to the Wahcondah, and
implore him to send thee his pleasantest breezes, and
to put his purest joy in thy heart. I will bless thee,
and love thee to my last hour; and will return, as
thou counselest, and thou shalt hear, if haply thou
shouldst ever ask to know what is passing in these vallies,
that I had courage, like thee, to encounter that
terrible medicine word, duty, to the last.'

The time of her departure was appointed. Before
it arrived, Frederic solicited a confidential interview.
He told her, `that it was wholly unnecessary for him
to declare, that he had no longer interest, or pursuit
among the Shoshonee, when she should have left
them. His course, too, was to China; and he assured
her, that whatever his feelings were, no disclosure
of them, or allusion to them, should be made. He
hoped, that it would not be considered a draw-back
upon her anticipations, that he, who had seen, enjoyed,
and suffered many things, in common with her,
was to accompany her voyage.' In the most cordial
tones, she assured him, `that so far from its being a
draw-back, the society of a friend, a gentleman, in
whose true and honorable character she had entire
confidence, and who had seen, and been endeared to
her parents, must necessarily be an alleviation of her
sorrows.' Frederic saw, that he was not indifferent
to her; and that he shared, as her manner intimated,
all the sentiments, that a heart, so worn and horror-stricken,
had to bestow.

The evening before the day of her departure, the
moon shone brightly, and the white clouds slept in
the firmament. She sat forth to pay her last visit to
the graves of her parents. None knew her words or
thoughts, on this sad and sacred and parting pilgrimage,
for she again insisted on performing this last duty
entirely alone.

Elder Wood and Frederic were ready. Three
hundred young Shoshonee warriors were ready. To
Manitouna it was proposed, that they should go
on horseback; and thence in a periogue to the Falls
of the Oregon; and thence in another periogue to
Astoria. When the hour had come, at once solemn
and dreaded, for her to leave forever her native vale,
and the place of her youthful joys, and the graves of
her parents, she shrunk back. A revulsion came over

her. `It seems,' she said, `impossible for me to take
a final departure from this sweet valley.' The
thought presents itself to me, as of an unpractised,
and too confident child, that recklessly leaves the
sheltering arms and the affectionate counsels of parents.'
Areskoui had recovered his calmness, as she
had lost hers. `Go not away from us in sadness, Wakona,'
he said. `Thy medicine man is good; and he
saith the thing, that is good, when he saith, that for
those, who have confidence to go down to the sunless
valley, it is better to die, than to live. There the
heart no longer agonizes. Wouldst thou call back from
the land of souls the shades of thy good father and
mother, to have them in terror for thee, as when carried
off by the accursed pale face? Wouldst thou
have them again exposed to the hatchets of the murderous
Shienne? Hast thou not seen thy father wipe
away the sweat of weariness, from trapping the beaver,
or pursuing the deer? Wouldst thou once more
behold his face grow pale, through anxiety for thee?
See, Wakona, how well I have learned, and how faithfully
I remember the words of thy medicine man.—
Areskoui has but too much need for those hopes himself.
Oh! no. If thou believest the words of thy
medicine man, thou wilt rather rejoice, that their innocent
shades have gone to the hills of paradise, that
they behold the ever gracious face of the Master of
Life, listen forever to the sweetest medicine songs,
and feel the kindly influence of an eternal spring.'

Of the thousands, that were there assembled to
witness their departure, every one pressed forward, to
grasp the hands of Wakona and Elder Wood. Their
resentments expired in the real sorrow of parting.
`Go, good man,' said they, `go with the blessings of
the Shoshonee. Go in peace. Go, valley flower; go,
bird of paradise. The Master of Life clear your path;
shine upon you in the sun; blow on you in the breeze,

and fill your hearts with joy. Remember the Shoshonee;
and when you and we meet in the land of souls,
may we meet in love and peace, as we now part.'
Ellswatta embraced, and kissed her cheek. `I swear,
Wakona,' said he, `that no one shall outrage thy parents'
grave, except over the old body of Ellswatta.
I shall soon see thy good father again, in the land of
souls; and I will tell him, that I loved, and cherished
Wakona to the last.' Josepha embraced her, and
shed the genuine tears of female tenderness. She
took from her bosom a crucifix, sparkling with gems.
`Thy mother, Jessy,' she said, `gives thee at parting
the emblem of a Christian; beseeching thee to wear
it in remembrance of thy mother's friend, and the
mother of my unhappy Areskoui.'

All the tribe accompanied the sad and weeping
procession to the foot of the mountains. Then the
medicine men, as usual, beat their drums, and when
they ceased, Elder Wood fell on his knees, and committed
the Shoshonee `to God and the word of his
grace;' and prayed earnestly, `that another and a better
and a more favored missionary might come among
them; and bring them all into the fold of the great
Shepherd.' With such earnest, humble and affectionate
tenderness he commended the remaining and
the departing to God, as produced an impression and
solemnity which was long remembered among that
people, after they were gone. `The mother of God
have the care of you,' said Josepha, and threw her
arms round her neck for the last time; and embraces
and tears and solemn partings were interchanged to
the final moment. Ellswatta turned away from
his son and Jessy. The young warriors moved onwards,
in ascending the hill; and Jessy, unwilling to
trust her eyes, or look back, heard the wail of returning
Indians, as the horse, upon which she rode, in the

midst of the long procession, began to scramble up the
sides of the mountain.

All the ceremonies of departure were not accomplished,
until late in the day. The escort encamped
on the side of the mountain, just as the last gleams of
the setting sun poured a mellow lustre up the subjacent
vale. The evening kindled smokes of the Shoshonee
town curled peacefully from their dwellings,
and the culminating shadows fell in long columns upon
the scenery below. The tears rolled down the cheeks
of the orphan, as she here lingered, looking intently
on the scene, that she might so paint it on her memory,
as to be able at any future time, by a fixed attention
to recal it. `Farewell, sweet home,' she cried. `Natal
spot, dear valley, breezy pines, forever consecrated
to remembrance, graves of my parents, farewell!
Look down, dear and sainted shades, and be with me
in this wide and unknown world, upon which I am
entering.' She continued to gaze upon the scene,
until the increasing shade of twilight obscured it from
view; and the last prospect was of the Shoshonee
smokes lying horizontally above the valley, and drawn
from habitation to habitation, as of long muslin drapery
spread in the air.

The accompanying Shoshonee, to whom the sadness
not only of the departing emigrants, but even
that of their chief was a hidden history, who regarded,
and cared only for that, which appeared on the
external face of their journey, plied their hatchets to
the trees, kindled their camp-fires, cooked, smoked,
sung, and chaunted their tales, as though such thoughts
of mourning and sadness had never entered human
heart. They occasionally spoke, it is true, of the sad
countenance of their chief. They wondered at the
rejection of his suit by Wakona; but admitted, that
no maiden, white or red, could control her affections;

and they expressed a sincerity and depth of regret
for the departure of Wakona and Elder Wood, that
ought forever to have redeemed them from the reproachful
estimation of being insensible savages.

No event, of a character to belong to these annals,
marked their way over the mountains to Manitouna.
At this point, great part of the warriors, that had
come thus far on horseback, returned, taking a solemn
and affecting leave of the emigrants; and neither party
expecting to meet again on the earth. The remainder,
twenty five in number, stopped, and entered
that strange position, to spend the night. A thousand
painful recollections were connected with this
place in the mind of the departing orphan. She
could not but painfully remember the joy of deliverance,
with which she had emerged from this prison of
nature, to return to endeared and longing parents.
Her face was now towards the sea. She had no parents,
no expecting friends, no home. The world
was all before her, and providence alone her guide.
A chill of horror once more came over her, when the
terrible figure of Maniteewah, so strongly engraven
on her memory, stood again before her, in all her
original deformity, chattering her strange chapter of
exclamations, and ambiguous declarations, like the
general form of such responses, capable of receiving
such a construction, as suited the event, come what
might. Frederic and Elder Wood remarked, that
the great burden of her gibberish was to admonish
Wakona, that she had forewarned her of the dreadful
events, that had driven her from the valley; and
the chief import of her predictions for the future was
couched in the strain of prophecies of some terrible
impending evil. Although Jessy did not appear much
to heed her wild snatches of poetry and song; yet
fearful, that some impressions, tending to strengthen
her gloom, might fasten on her mind, they hurried

her away. This priestess of the little white men of
the mountains continued to howl presages of evil for
the fair orphan, until she was removed from her hearing,
by letting down the curtains of her tent.

Next morning they set forth in their periogues for
the Falls of the Oregon. During this descent, the
mind of Jessy was more than once occupied, and her
melancholy thoughts for a moment fixed by the sublimity
of the grand scenery about her. In the earnest
and affectionate cheerfulness, in the unwearied
assiduity of kindness, manifested by Katrina, she found,
also, occasional alleviation of her sufferings. Elder
Wood, Frederic and Areskoui, were alike lavish of
their efforts to soothe the lovely mourner. She saw,
how much happiness she imparted, whenever she
seemed for a moment cheerful, and disposed to resume
her wonted manner of former days. Her instinctive
disposition to render others happy, aroused
her to great efforts, to show herself still capable of
emotions of resigned quietness.

At the great Falls, all the escort, but six favorite
and confidential friends of the young chief, left
them on their return. They took leave of Elder
Wood with a degree of respect, bordering on veneration.
They earnestly requested him to bestow on
them a benediction, and something of the medicine
charm of the pale face, that might guard them from
the witching influence of the little white men of the
mountains, over whose peculiar domain they were to
return. He waved his hand solemnly over their heads,
by way of parting benediction, praying God with an
earnestness, that started tears down his own cheek,
that He would have mercy upon these poor benighted
pagans, dwelling in the regions of the setting sun and
the valley of the shadow of death; that He would
bring them out of darkness into His marvellous light,
and fill all their valley with vision, by some instrument

more worthy and more favored, than himself. They
showed strong marks of affectionate feeling, as they
parted from Frederic; and particularly Katrina, who
had been remarkably successful, in ingratiating herself
in the affections of the Shoshonee, during her
short residence among them. `Farewell,' said they,
`kind and beloved pale faces. The Master of Life
keep you, give you a blue sky and a bright sun, clear all
evils from your path, and bring us to see you in the
land of souls, on the green hills of paradise. We will
take care of the graves;' and as they uttered this last
affecting promise, these kind hearted red men of the
desert turned, and left them; suggesting to Jessy the
obvious reflection, that these successive partings from
their friends, and their diminishing number, was like
the incidents of the journey of life; where the commencing
guests of the journey are continually deserting
the traveller, leaving him to finish the course alone,
which was commenced in the society of multitudes.

Although the season was early spring, the weather
was of the mildness of autumn; or rather it was a continuation
of the season of Indian summer. They
were now floating on the mighty Oregon. The noble
and majestic stream, its banks skirted with boundless
prairies, opened a spectacle equally new and exciting
to Jessy. Her periogue was covered with soft skins;
and an awning of tanned buffaloe robe screened her
both from the sun and the cold. Areskoui, unwilling
to increase the gloom of the emigrant mourner, made
generous efforts to seem cheerful, and exhausted his
ingenuity to render the voyage as pleasing as it might
be. A painful restraint was imposed on Frederic,
both in his resolution to betray no manifestations of
the sentiments that were preying upon him, and in
anticipating the time, when the chief should be away,
and when he should be left alone with her.

At length, from an elevation on the shore, on which
they stopped, the blue sea, stretching away in its
boundlessness, was visible for the first time to Jessy.
It was the element, on which the heroism, the philosophic
and peculiar character of her dear father had
been cradled. It was the element over which her
tenderly loved mother had come, to fall by the hand
of savages, and to lay her ashes in the remote valleys
of the mountains. It was a spectacle suggesting
grand and impressive images of infinity and eternity;
and as she felt the humid breeze, and saw the broad,
flat, illimitable, cerulean space, thought arose, crowding
upon thought; and the felt conviction rushed on
her mind, that the spirit, to which such a spectacle
presented such emotions, must itself be infinite and
immortal.

Shortly afterwards the little town of Astoria was
in view; and though offering externally little more of
show, than a collection of Indian cabins, and presenting
precisely the appearance of the primitive beginnings
of a new settlement in the forest, as being the
first town built, and inhabited by whites, that Jessy
had seen, it offered her a spectacle of intense interest.
Three or four ships showed their tall masts and complicated
rigging at anchor in the river. This most
imposing sample of the ultimate attainment of the social
state, produced in the freshness of her mind a
sentiment of profound meditation upon that unvisited
race of men, that had invented for themselves such
conveyances, in which to traverse the fathomless billows,
and to hold on their confident way amidst darkness,
storms and clouds. `Who would waste existence,'
she thought, `among the rude Shoshonee, when
such spectacles of the triumphs of art opened at the
very verge of civilization?'

Areskoui, being well known at Astoria, was received
with a distinction accurately adjusted, by the calculating

inhabitants, to his known power and influence
in the region, whence they collected those furs,
the trade in which was the chief staple of the place.
A space, in which to encamp, was assigned him within
the limits of the town, and he received the rude
ceremonial of a king of the North West coast. Elder
Wood, Frederic and Jessy were equally known
by report; and, as generally happens, a thousand additions
of imagination, and an exaggerating spirit of
curiosity were appended to the gossip story of her
beauty, wealth, abduction, and future intended course.
Hence, it may be easily imagined, with what an
eager and annoying stare of attention her steps were
watched.

Elder Wood immediately took lodgings for Jessy,
Frederic and himself, in the best house, which the
town afforded; and as it was unusually crowded and
busy, proper apartments were found difficult to obtain.
These preliminaries settled, the next step was
to enquire, how soon a passage could be obtained to
China. On enquiry, they learned, that a vessel, a
little way below the town, was at anchor in the river,
which had nearly completed her lading, and was to
sail in two or three days at farthest. They all agreed
to take a walk together, along the banks of the Oregon,
in order to survey, and board the vessel, and satisfy
themselves, as to the chances of getting a passage.

It was a delightfully bright and sunny day, and one
of the first of decided Spring. The early vernal flowers
had already disclosed their modest and fragrant
petals, and the prairie surface, in some places brown
and sear from the frosts of winter, was in others already
carpeted with a verdure as soft and smooth as
velvet. Innumerable flocks of sea fowl of every shape
and plumage, size and note, careering on the wings
of the wind towards the interior, constituted an impressive
circumstance in the scenery. They were

dimly descried sailing landward in every direction
from the wastes of sea, growing on the eye, and tending
towards the interior, like a flight of innumerable
arrows. `There they fly,' remarked Jessy, `towards
the sweet retreats we have left. There they meet in
the forsaken bowers of the past years, where spring
has repainted their haunts, and provided their food.
But I shall visit the dear shades no more.'

Arrived abreast of the ship, they made signals,
which soon brought a boat to the shore. There were
fine accommodations for passengers; and the outlines
of a contract for the passage of the party were directly
settled. But it was deemed proper, that the ladies
should return; and that the gentlemen, accompanied
by Areskoui and his Shoshonee, should go on board,
and inspect the ship with their own eyes. The little
village was in full view; the road direct, the sun brightly
shining, and sailors and inhabitants seen at intervals
between them and the town. Strange infatuation!
Although they had but an hour before discussed the
possibility, that their enemies might be there, and had
mutually promised not to separate from each other,
although the paleness of death had marked the cheek
of Jessy, as the bare possibility of coming once more
in the power of Julius had been hinted at, so full were
the hearts and thoughts of each one of the party of
the arrangements and separations at hand, that not an
apprehension of danger crossed the mind of either, as
Jessy and Katrina moved back towards their lodgings;
and as the rest of the party were rowed on board the
ship, promising to rejoin them in a short time.

According to their promise, in a few minutes Elder
Wood, Frederic, and Areskoui, with the Shoshonee,
were on the return, remarking with some surprize,
that Jessy and Katrina were already out of sight.—
They satisfied their rising apprehensions by concluding,
that their stay on board the ship had been longer,

than their calculations, and not doubting, that they
should find their beloved charge at their lodgings.
Thither they quickened their steps; and their consternation
and horror may be imagined, when they found,
that neither had returned. The information fell on
them, as it had been a thunder-stroke. Areskoui on
this occasion forgot all the stoicism and endurance,
which he could sometimes command. In transports
of fury and despair he scattered his black locks to the
winds, and was with difficulty restrained from throwing
himself in the river. Frederic, in view of his agony,
became comparatively calm, reminding him, that
even if they were not found, which he trusted, they
would be, it was only anticipating the intended separation
from him by a day or two. He nobly answered,
that in the present case, as in all her former misfortunes,
it was for her, and not for himself he suffered;
and that no joy could now be so great for him, as
to see her bounding on her way over the billows in the
great canoe towards her destined country. Elder
Wood, scarcely more self-possessed, than the young
chief, beat his breast, and seemed for a moment bereft
at once of reason and his confidence in heaven. The
bitterness of self reproach came in, to increase his torment.
`This, then, is my prudence and my care of
you, my dear children,' cried the minister. `Thus
have I fulfilled the first duties of guardian. Would
God I had died for thee, my daughter Jessy.'

While this party were thus giving utterance to their
grief and distraction, and running in different directions
to collect information, to solicit aid in the search,
rumor soon communicated what had happened to the
people of the town. As is customary in such cases,
all the respectable people joined in the search. The
cause of their absence was soon but too clearly ascertained.
Two sailors had marked the young ladies
moving towards the village, as they were returning

from it to their ship. They had noted two persons
ascending the bank, and instantly disappearing with
the two ladies below the bank again. Their attention
had been arrested, by seeing young ladies alone,
aud fashionably dressed in that place. But with the
reckless spirit of men, who were accustomed to consider
nothing a novelty, they had spent no conjectures,
in enquiring, who they were, or whether this sudden
skipping down the bank might not be matter of sport,
or concert with the men, who disappeared with them.

Other information was soon imparted, which threw
ample illustration upon the whole affair. A fur ship,
which had been lying at anchor many days, had just
descended the river under a press of sail and the current
of the Oregon, for the isle of Ostroklotz, two hundred
leagues north of the Oregon, and five leagues
from the main land. It was a place of surpassing fame
in the annals of nautical romance, about which tales
were told as wild, as those of the Arabian Nights.—
These tales described it, as the grand harem of the
adventurers in those remote seas, as a kind of Calypso's
enchanted isle of Russian pleasure and debauchery.
It was equally famed as the resort of seals and sea
lions.

The ship, that had just sailed for that noted island,
had been moored for some time a little below the
town. From various quarters, the party in search of
the lost ones learned, that Julius Landino had been
hanging about Astoria, ever since his expulsion from
the Shoshonee; that Baptiste and Hatch had been
seen in company with him. With the vessel, that
had just sailed, all three had disappeared. So many
corroborating circumstances were collected in concurrent
evidence, as to leave no doubt upon the subject.
Jessy and Katrina had been watched. The moment
they were left by their friends, to return unprotected,
they were carried down the bank, forced on board the

departing ship, and carried away in her. There had
been previous evidence that the massacre of William
Weldon and Yensi had been plotted here, and that
Julius had furnished the rum and money, requisite to
bribe the perpetration. He had foreseen, that a natural
result of this would be, that Jessy would leave the
country by way of Astoria. Spider-like, he had here
woven his accursed web, and waited for his prey. In
the moment of unsuspicious and unguarded confidence,
the protectors of the orphan girls had left
them, and Jessy was once more in the power of Julius.

The full conviction of this fact offered new incitements
to arouse the dejected party to pursuit and
vengeance. Like a lion chafed from his lair, Areskoui
raised himself above his recent despondency.
`The Wahcondah hath struck us again,' he said; `but
Jessy yet lives. We have saved her from the vile
pale face once before. Who knows, but we may do
it again? In any case, while she lives, and is in his
bad power, we will not sit down, and wail like women.
I have led my warriors to the shore, which
looks upon Ostroklotz. Follow me, and we will away
for that place again. Long and spirit-stirring marches
over the mountains, in dangers and adventures, are
the natural medicines of spirits afflicted as ours. We
shall find our sorrow diminished, as we press strange
countries with our feet. The Wahcondah will aid
us, and we shall bring Wakona back in triumph, as
before. Taught by this second disaster, she will never
think of leaving our valley again. We will always
be to her as brothers, and she will share her
kindness between us, as a sister.'

`He speaks,' cried Elder Wood, embracing Frederic,
`as when he descended to the vale of Manitouna,
like an angel of the Lord. Let us arise, and follow
him. God would not have given him such a spirit
and such a confidence, except as an omen of His gracious

interposition for deliverance.' `I feel with you,'
said Frederic, `that the occasion calls not for dejection,
or effeminate tears. I follow you to the ends of
the earth, and not a moment is to be lost.'

Every information instructed them, that the ship,
which carried away the two orphan girls, was seen
descending the river under a press of sail, the current
and a favoring breeze. From the heights it
could already be descried, just emerging from the
river upon the blue water beyond. The only part,
that remained, was the severe and doubtful one of a
return first up the river, and then a march of two
hundred leagues from the Shoshonee valley, to reach
the shore opposite Ostroklotz. Should they reach
that point, an island, reputed to be inaccessible from
enchantment, and the incessant fury of a most terrific
surf always bursting upon it, would shield the objects
of their pursuit from their power. It was, beside, a
known abode of the most worthless and abandoned
of the lawless rovers in these stormy and unfrequented
seas. Surrounded by the wild ocean, enclosed in
a fortification represented impregnable, in the keeping
of such abandoned villains, the honor and the recovery
of the orphan girls seemed equally hopeless.
But the noble maxim of the three friends was never to
despair; and Areskoui, with the feeling congenial to
his race, aroused to its utmost point of excitement,
declared, that vengeance alone ought to push them
to the expedition, even if the recovery of Jessy and
Katrina were hopeless.

Before the dawn of the following morning they
were ascending the Oregon, with every appliance of
oar and sail. Incessant rowing and silent sadness
marked their desolate ascent; though, when the sole
engrossing object of their thoughts became matter of
discussion, Areskoui failed not to remind them, how
weak and erroneous had been the judgment of the

pale face, in procuring the pardon of Julius for his
first crime. `Did I not warn you,' he asked, `that you
would live to repent the effeminate forbearance of
saving him from the flames? Confess, that the stern,
prompt and inexorable law of the red men is both
wiser and better, than the feeble and womanish policy
of your race.' `Not so,' mildly answered Elder
Wood. `Every other consideration should always
yield to the interests of the soul and eternity. She
spared the abandoned wretch for repentance. Should
her temporal ruin by his hand be the consequence,
if she should rejoice through the ceaseless ages of
eternity for that act of mercy and forbearance, will
it not be, on the whole, an infinite gain to her? Her
first deliverance was a divine reward for the purity
and sanctity of her life. The divine justice and truth
are our guarantee, that she will be delivered again,
however hopeless the prospect to the mere eye of
carnal reason. The cries of innocence and despair
will ascend to the ear of the God of Sabaoth. My
trust in the living God is strong and confident, that
we shall deliver her unharmed from the power of the
oppressor.'

Areskoui clasped the minister in his arms; `and if
we do,' he cried in transport, `I swear to thee, medicine
man, that I will follow thee into the Sewasserna,
and I will embrace thy faith, and call on my people
to imitate my example.'

`Wilt thou in very deed do this!' exclaimed the
sanguine son of Kentucky. `Then I know by this token,
that my prayers will prevail. Now shall we be
brothers in the baptism of immersion, and I shall present
the converted nation of the Shoshonee, as my
humble offering in the day of the Lord.'

Similar bursts of enthusiasm, and the confidential
affection of their holy partnership, threw incidental
gleams of joy over the fatiguing and discouraging

ascent. But for the greater part of the way, the ruminating
warriors caught the silence and sadness of their
chief; and words of confidence and gladness were
few and far between. Imagination alone can take
hold of the complicated train of feelings, with which
the party presented themselves in sadness and discouragement
before Ellswatta and the Shoshonee. The
father saw, that the son had still a motive to vigorous
action, saw that enthusiasm, and hope, and the spirit
of former days, kindled in his eye; and this was so
different from the countenance, which he had expected
to see him wear on his return, that he welcomed
him with words of applause and encouragement.—
`Go, my son,' he said, `with thy friends of the pale
face, and our chosen warriors, in pursuit of our two
lost children. Thy father is proud to see thee look
as formerly. Such should be a chief of the red men
—always strong and confident; never disheartened or
doubting; never the slave of his passions or fears.—
Go, and take with thee such warriors, and such supplies,
as thou shalt choose, and our means will furnish.'
A distant expedition to the habitations of the
Russ, vengeance and plunder were the watchwords.
An appetite for an expedition spread among the young
and restless warriors, by the contagion of sympathy.
It was the prime of May, and the season was opportune;
and the arrangements for the expedition were
pushed with unparalleled celerity. More volunteers
offered for this distant, fatiguing, and hazardous enterprize,
than could be spared from the necessary labors
of cultivation. Therefore, such men only were
selected, as had gained distinction, as intelligent, daring,
and capable of every endurance. All feelings
of anger, on account of the voluntary departure of
Jessy from among them, were merged in the strong
impulses of revenge, and a returning remembrance of
their former affection for her. The whole abandoned
property of Hatch had hitherto, by Indian usage,
remained interdicted, and untouched. A peculiar
religious ceremony, on this occasion, devoted the
whole to the fitting out this expedition; and no one
had ever yet set forth from the vale so amply furnished
with every thing, which the country and the stores
of Hatch could supply.

Blessed by the chiefs and the medicine men, and
Ellswatta, who remained in the vale, and by the earnest
public and private prayers of Elder Wood, the
expedition, all mounted, and prepared for an immediate
departure from the Sewasserna, set forth by
the most rapid and direct route over the lofty mountains,
for those immense prairies, which sloped towards
the Russian settlements.

They soon cleared the verdant vale, outstripped
the progress of Spring, and were among the icy and
precipitous mountains. Sometimes they descended
into dark vales of ever green firs and hemlocks.—
Forests, morasses, swamps, glens, deserts, rivers and
mountains stretched out before them in the untrodden
and immeasurable space. Hungry and weary,
and their horses falling under them, they now waded
through a sand plain, which the eye could not measure,
and then scrambled up the ices and rocks of a
mountain, that elevated them above the regions of
perpetual congelation. But the enduring and impassible
race, sometimes full, and sometimes fasting,
sometimes amidst droves of elk or buffaloes, and then
subsisting on the bark of trees, still put in requisition
their exhaustless patience, and their mysterious desert
lore; and followed with unabating enthusiasm and
unmurmuring heroism a chief, and white people, in
whose sympathies, on this occasion, they could be supposed
to have but a moderate share. In plenty or in
want, on the icy mountains or in the green vallies,
they sang their deep guttural song, kindled their night

fires, talked of the Master of Life, or the little white
men of the mountains, and still found themselves at
home in the desert.

Their most trying position was in passing two entire
days without food, except the flesh of their lean
and worn out horses, as they waded through an ocean
of little conical sand hills, of thirty leagues extent.—
A rock served as a nucleus, around which the sweeping
winds of the desert raised these innumerable sand
mounds, which every moment interposed in their path;
and in which the warriors and horses sunk to their
knees. One might have fancied these countless cone-shaped
knolls, altars to the grim divinities of the desert,
hunger, thirst, and exhaustion from toil; and
here any other expedition, but one composed of the
red men, would have fallen in hopeless discouragement.
But the chief still cried, `courage! beyond
these deserts we shall cross a river abounding in salmon,
meadows waving with grass, and woods, where
is abundance of game.' `Shall I,' responded Elder
Wood, `who trust in the living God, and am a Kentuckian,
have less faith, and less firmness, than this
heathen and untrained child of the desert. Courage,
Frederic! Let us on to our purpose.'

As the chief had predicted, at the end of the second
day, as the physical powers of the expedition
were sinking in absolute exhaustion, a waving line of
woods was dimly descried in the verge of the sky.
The sight seemed to impart, as it were, life to the
dead. The horses neighed, and renewed their exertions.
The warriors, encouraged by the near prospect
of relief, pressed onwards. The evening saw
their camp fires blazing amidst a beautiful wood, on
the banks of a wide and flush salmon stream. The
vernal leaves were formed. Innumerable water
dwellers croaked around. The whippoorwills were
pouring forth their monotonous song. Fire flies gleamed

in the grass and on the branches. The happy horses,
turned loose, were rioting in the fresh grass. The
warriors with their blazing torches rushed into the
stream; and with shouts and peals of laughter, as reckless,
as though they had never experienced other sensations
than those of abundance and joy, were throwing
the salmon on shore. Other warriors were industriously
turning up the soil for prairie potatoes.—
It would be difficult to imagine a happier assemblage
of human beings, than these young and hungry red
men, delivered from the heart-wearing toil of the sea
of sand hills, now exulting around their bright fires,
feasting high upon salmon, a ration of corn cakes, distributed
on this joyous occasion, roasted prairie potatoes,
and a reasonable allowance of spirits. When
they paused for the merry tale, or shouts of laughter,
in the intervals, the pleasant sound was heard of their
horses, advancing step by step upon the grass, and
greadily biting it off to its roots.

When their hunger was at length appeased, Elder
Wood failed not, at this epoch of deliverance and joy,
to call the expedition to prayers and thanksgivings;
nor was it an unimpressive spectacle, to see the docility,
with which these pagan dwellers of the desert
gathered round him in reverent stillness, as he poured
forth his acknowledgements to Him, who had thus so
graciously spread their table in the wilderness; and
as he earnestly prayed for the desolate orphans, and a
successful issue in their deliverance from the hand of
their oppressor.

To feed, and refresh their horses and mules, and to
supply themselves with salmon and game, they were
obliged, however impatient to advance, to remain stationary
one day. Part of the warriors, under the direction
of the chief, speared salmon. Another part,
accompanied by Elder Wood and Frederic, hunted
buffaloes and elk, which they found in considerable

numbers, feeding in the open woods. Areskoui soon
joined them, to share a sport more congenial and
spirit-stirring, than spearing salmon. The two white
men and the young chief, at considerable intervals,
dashed into a thicket, tangled with laurels, in pursuit
of a herd of buffaloes. Here occurred an incident,
which had well nigh been the last in the annals of Elder
Wood. Even the buffaloes were incapable of
plunging through the matted and stiff branches of the
laurel clumps, now in full flower. The three dismounted
at the same moment, and fastened their horses,
to pursue the animals on foot. Scarce had Elder
Wood stirred the first clump, when a terrific growl
caused him to recoil; and, roused from his lair, the
next moment a grizzly bear, of prodigious size, rushed
upon him. To fly was adverse to the maxims of
the Kentucky hunter, if not impracticable, from his
age and the stiffness of his limbs. The huge and powerful
animal brushed him from his path by a stroke of
his paw, which felled the minister among the bushes;
and advanced upon Areskoui. The enraged monster,
with open jaws, disclosing his long and terrible
teeth, reached and held him in his grapple. The
chief could avail himself of no weapons but his knife.
He plied this with equal coolness, intrepidity and
skill. But though the animal received numerous
thrusts, from which the blood streamed, the chief had
also received wounds; and, it was evident, would soon
sink under the talons of the infuriated animal. Elder
Wood recovered, and pressed to his relief. Frederic,
too, leapt over the brush, and was at hand, but could
not fire on the beast, through fear of killing the chief
at the same time. The dogs also made a diversion
in favor of their master, snapping and tearing the animal,
wherever they could fix their jaws. Elder Wood
was hacking at the bear with his knife; and all this
aid notwithstanding, the intrepid and athletic chief
was falling under the efforts of the bear. To fall was
to be torn in pieces. As he was half sinking in exhaustion,
a timely shot from Frederic, and a thrust to
the heart from Elder Wood, laid the animal at his
length, and delivered Areskoui, torn and covered with
blood. `Tell us only,' cried the deliverers, `that you
feel no mortal hurts.' `Not at all,' he answered in a
calm and assured voice. `You have returned former
obligations in kind; and it is thus, that the hunters of
the desert learn to pay their debts of kindness.' None,
but such hunters, can adequately imagine the extent
of the companionship of friendship created by sharing
such adventures; nor what a theme of interest the
narrative of this fight furnished the warriors assembled
round their evening camp fires, as they gazed
upon the terrible animal lying before them, and measured
his talons, teeth and huge dimensions.

After a long and toilsome march, of more than a
month in these inhospitable wilds, from the table summit
of a mountain, composed of huge piles of sand
stone, they obtained a full view of the blue and boundless
sea, whitened at intervals by the fresh breeze.
Far to the left, between two elevated stony peaks,
surmounted with low and shrubby evergreens, they
descried the smokes and the log houses of the Russian
village on the main land, opposite Ostroklotz. Beyond
the houses was visible a ship, on whose masts
fluttered the Russian pennons; and below it a number
of coasting crafts. A dark, dim speck in the sea,
just discernible by the naked eye, showed distinctly
by the telescope, as an island. It was the isle of Ostroklotz.
As the chief announced it, the Indians
raised their loudest rejoicing song. Elder Wood,
Frederic, and the chief embraced, and congratulated
each other, that they had at least accomplished one
point. They saw the prison of the captives. They
gazed long and intently upon the prospect before

them. `There,' cried Areskoui, `is our dear Wakona;'
and his eye filled, as he waved his hand toward
the sky, and invoked the aid of the Wahcondah.
Nor did Elder Wood fail to fall on his knees,
and address still more earnest prayers to the God of
Israel for counsel and strength from on high.

Their next thoughts were devoted to the arrangement
of the best concerted plans, to be devised for the
deliverance of the captives. Where the instinct and
lore of desert knowledge were not concerned, it was
agreed, that the advice of Elder Wood should prevail.
In all matters, that concerned the direction of
the warriors, Areskoui best knew what was to be
done. In points relating to acquaintance with the
ways of the whites, and whatever intercourse with
them might be necessary, Frederic had an admitted
superiority of knowledge. Each was to command in
his appropriate sphere. Each covenanted implicit
obedience, and a perseverance even to death, in the
course prescribed by the other. Few enterprizes of
more interest, or of more doubtful and dangerous aspect,
than that, which lay before them, can be imagined;
and the sacramental oath, by which they pledged
themselves to each other, was one of no common
solemnity.

A main point in their plan was, not to be so discovered
in mass, as to raise any suspicion of their object.
They were to disperse by day in small companies, assuming
the employment and appearance of ordinary
bands of Indians, hunting and trapping in the vicinity
of the Russian settlements. Frederic, speaking
Spanish, a language more or less understood along all
that coast, personating a trapper in dress and appearance,
was to visit the village in view, with the ostensible
object of purchasing powder, lead, and supplies.
To gain every possible information, in relation to the
captives, without exciting any suspicion, was his real

business. A small creek skirted with enormous firs
entered the sea at their left. Regular detachments
of the Shoshonee were appointed to work in rotation,
to build two large periogues; and the rest were dispersed
in the prairie valleys, to hunt and trap, keeping
up a constant intercourse by runners.

The dress, the deportment, the stern and yet reckless
manner, the language and habits of a trapper,
were no new parts to be enacted by Frederic. Even
among the Shoshonee he had but few rivals in this vocation.
His character, uniting intrepidity, concentration
and a clear and discriminating judgment, admirably
fitted him to avail himself of such advantages
as might offer; and to accommodate himself to whatever
emergencies might present. He set forth immediately
to execute his assigned mission, suppressing,
as he might, the palpitations of his heart, as he drew
near the village. Two trappers, on their way to the
town, from another direction, came up with him. He
judged them by their appearance to be Canadians;
and to his inexpressible joy, they proved to be so, answering
his questions in French. They were infinitely
communicative, being, as is common to the race,
much more ready to impart, than to ask information;
much more prompt to tell their own story, than curious
to enquire that of another. It was only necessary
to give a direction to their tongues, to obtain all the
knowledge upon every subject, which they had to bestow.
They told him, that the establishment before
them was considered within the territorial limits of
the British fur company of the North West coast; but
at present chiefly occupied by Russians. It bore
their flag; but contained an assemblage of outlaws
from all nations.

Frederic cut short their irrelevant discussion of
matters, that little concerned him, by asking them
about the ship, whose tall masts and streaming pennons

formed the most conspicuous object in their
view. They immediately commenced a voluble narrative
upon points, of which every particular went
straight to his heart, and told directly upon the objects
of his enquiry. That vessel, they informed him, had
arrived some twenty nights ago from the Oregon.
The captain and supercargo were profligate and rich
Russians, who had, according to the report, brought
with them two of the most beautiful young ladies, that
had ever been seen. Rumor differed in regard to
their characters; some representing them as abandoned
and voluntary partners; and others as innocent
captives. Be that as it might, they had been immediately
conveyed to Ostroklotz, and, no doubt, added
to the members of the harem there. To replenish
this establishment, they sometimes brought young ladies
from the Spanish settlements on the western coast
of America; sometimes from Kamtschatka; and in
short, from all points visited by Russian ships.—
Wherever they could find a beautiful young lady,
who could be tempted by love or money, seduced by
sophistical representations, entangled by intrigue, or
blinded by her passions, she was added to the number
of the victims. It was fully believed, that if these
means were found inefficient, to accomplish their purposes,
there was no restraint of honor or conscience
on the tenants of that island, to withhold them from
violence, or even murder.

They proceeded to relate a thousand wild and incredible
traditions, touching the inaccessible character
of the island, the impregnable strength of the fortified
residence of its inhabitants and possessors; and
tales of beautiful apartments, furnished with oriental
splendor and luxury, of the sounds of carouse, music
and dancing always heard within; that an enchantment
hung over the isle, under the influence of which,
whoever entered this Mahometan paradise, never

could be persuaded to leave it again; with innumerable
legends of boats dashed in pieces against the rocks,
in attempting to approach it, adduced as proofs, that
it was an enchanted island, which none might approach
in safety but those who had propitiated its invisible
guardian powers. Such, in substance, was the
compend of the tale, told by these loquacious Canadian
trappers. It was easy for Frederic to separate
from their narrative what was fanciful and incredible;
and to retain what was corroborated by circumstances,
and coincident with facts previously known to
him. the only point of any material interest in his
thoughts was conclusively settled. That the two captives
were in durance on the island was put beyond
all doubt. He entered the village, and made as many
enquiries as could be proposed, and satisfied, without
exciting suspicion, touching the holders of the island,
their modes of intercourse with the main land, and
their pursuits on the island. It was easy to perceive,
that the inhabitants of the village were, in a measure,
the vassals of the haughty, powerful and abandoned
residents of the island. No dependence could be placed
upon any effort to create a party here, who would
aid them in their purpose to regain the captives.
Satisfied, therefore, to have gained so much information,
without exciting suspicion, and to have ascertained
the practicability of entering the village, and
departing from it unquestioned, he returned to his
friends, who exulted in his acquired information, as
invaluable, although it induced a long, and perplexing
consultation.

The alternatives were successively examined. One
was, to attack, and destroy the settlement on the
main land by surprize, for which the three hundred
followers of Areskoui might be deemed an adequate
force. They could in this case retain a sufficient
number of the inhabitants, as hostages, and compel

them to pilot their force to the island, the fortified
place of which they might either storm, or induce the
possessors to capitulate. But the intercourse between
the main land and the island was so regular
and rapid, that the former could not be carried, without
giving the alarm to the latter, and allowing the
holders of the captives sufficient time, either to destroy
them, or escape with them, at their pleasure.—
Besides, the number of armed men in the two places,
united, considerably exceeded theirs. All accounts
concurred, in representing the fortification, as of impregnable
strength, and amply supplied with the
means of sustaining a long siege.

It was, therefore, deemed more practicable to commence
their purpose by stratagem, and the attempt
to interweave in their project different and unconscious
agents; and in particular, as soon as their periogues
should be built, to land, if it might be, unobserved
on the island, and reconnoitre the fortification,
during the night. This plan being adopted, nothing
further could be done, until the periogues should be
finished, and equipped. All the warriors, who were
not occupied in this labor, were dispersed to hunt buffaloes
and elk, and others to pursue seals, sea otters,
and sea lions. In short, their employments studiously
wore the aspect of being such, as the inhabitants of
the village and the island were accustomed to witness,
as the ordinary face of things, without enquiring
the nation or views of the Indian hordes about
them, with all of whom at this time they cultivated
relations of peace.

As many of the most expert periogue builders, as
could work to advantage together upon the two intended
crafts, were designated for that purpose; to
be relieved, when weary, by another party; and they
were aided by Areskoui, and the two white friends,
to accelerate the work in every possible way. Meanwhile

the order of these annals requires, that we
should return to consider the causes and the mode of
this second abduction of Jessy; and the events, that
befel the unhappy prisoners, up to the time of the arrival
of the Shoshonee opposite Ostroklotz. Subsequent
events will sufficiently explain the sources of
this information.

It is necessary, to preserve the thread of events, to
recur to the point of time, when Julius Landino, as
has been seen, was banished, by a Shoshonee council,
from the valley. To a select number of warriors it
was assigned to report, that they had seen him below
the falls of the Oregon. This commission, who were
charged with his deportation, there put him into a
small canoe, pushed him into the stream, and with the
heaviest Indian curse informed him, that if he was
ever seen again in their country, every Shoshonee
would feel himself bound by their immemorial usage,
to kill him. The abandoned convict paddled his canoe
in safety to Astoria. Money and concealment
were at his command; and the rumor of what had
transpired among the Shoshonee, in relation to him,
produced no other general impression, than that an
idle young man had practised debaucheries offensively
among them. The shame, danger and disgrace of
his adventure were very imperfectly known. His
residence there was little more noted, than that of
any other individual; and he had thus every opportunity
to renew his intercourse with his friends and the
disaffected among the Shoshonee. He diligently applied
himself to weave his web anew. Rage, disappointed
lust, revenge, every burning and diabolical
passion, excited to tenfold intensity by a deep felt sense
of humiliation, festered in his dark bosom. He swore
an oath on his soul, that rather than fail in his determination
to obtain possession of Jessy Weldon, he
would endure every pain and privation, even were it

the annihilation of his soul. To gratify this desire, he
put down henceforward as the chief purpose of his
existence. Among such a collection of adventurers,
as was always to be found at Astoria, an unprincipled
young man of fine appearance and money at command,
could never want coadjutors and instruments, ready
to institute any partnership for the furtherance of his
designs. It has been seen, that a radical hatred, on
the score of interest, existed between Hatch and Areskoui.
An ample bribe and a letter privately conveyed
to the trader, amalgamated his interests with
those of Julius; and secured in him a crafty, still,
sulky, inveterate and utterly unprincipled agent,
whose seeming recklessness and indifference to every
object, but gain, threw over his agency a covert of
apparent incapability of meditating any other
thoughts. It need not be said, that the co-operation
of Nelesho was certain, from similarity of character,
from hatred towards Areskoui, and meditated lust
and revenge in reference to Jessy.

The Shienne chief, with some of his confidential
Indians, accompanied by Hatch and Baptiste, descended
to Astoria. In one of its secluded cabins
these dark spirits were in conclave and cabinet council,
plotting the ruin of the family of William Weldon.
While their project was ripening, Nelesho ordered
down the greater part of his warriors and partizans,
who were instructed to descend in successive detachments,
to give their descent the appearance of
being in the regular course of their habits. The result
of their counsels was to distribute large portions
of rum to the Shienne, to keep them in a constant state
of semi-intoxication, that their brain might be steadily
inflamed to a state of indifference to consequences,
and a degree of frenzy and madness, which would
render them the easy and certain instruments of the
cool and crafty master spirits, who should be with

them, to give their fury any requisite direction. In
this state they were to be conducted home from Astoria.
When this habit has been induced for a length
of time, it is well known, that the first hours of withdrawing
from them their accustomed means of intoxication,
create in them such a rabid appetite for rum,
as will convert them into demons to obtain it. For a
short time before their arrival in their native valley,
it was arranged, that their rations of rum should
wholly cease; and Hatch was to be at hand to avail
himself of that state of frenzy, which it was foreseen,
would follow from this privation.

With such a prescribed plan, the Shienne chief ascended
to the Shoshonee valley. Some hours before
reaching home, the Shienne were informed, that their
rum was exhausted. Hatch, as has been seen, put
them on the scent, that William Weldon hoarded immense
quantities, swallowing it in solitary and niggardly
enjoyment, and at the same time, constantly
joining with Elder Wood and Ellswatta to declaim
against the brutality of Indian drunkenness. Nelesho
was in his place, and perfectly cool, to let loose upon
the objects of their intended vengeance, the terrific
fury of their rabid appetites. It was foreseen, that
the massacre of William Weldon and Yensi would
be a natural result of the infernal passions, thus unchained.
It was intended, that Jessy and Katrina
should have been brought down in the first instance
to Astoria, to have remained in the power of Julius
and his friends, as long as they should minister to
their guilty passions; and when they had kept them
to satiety, they were to be transferred to Nelesho,
who was to join the Black-feet with all his adherents,
in a league of exterminating hostility towards the
Shoshonee.

It has been seen, how different a termination Providence
gave the diabolical project. One of the guilty

instruments fell by the unexpected return of Areskoui
and his warriors. The return, which retaliated
such ample measures of vengeance, was unexpected,
because, to try the fidelity of Nelesho, Ellswatta had
announced in public a longer hunt, than was really
intended. One of the calculated results happened
according to the wish of Julius. Hatch and Baptiste,
flying the disclosures, they too well knew the Shienne
would make, escaped for their lives to Astoria,
leaving every thing behind to confiscation and ruin;
and were now united to Julius by the tie of absolute
dependence upon him for subsistence. They anticipated,
as a natural consequence of what had happened,
that Jessy and the Kentucky minister would leave
the country by the route of Astoria. All parties
were thus premonished, to make sure of the emigrants
by the first opportunity, that should offer, after
their arrival at Astoria. The steps of the emigrants
were watched by agents, who kept invisible.
It was a discouraging circumstance to find, that Areskoui,
Elder Wood and Frederic were well armed, surrounded
with Shoshonee, and apparently determined
not to lose sight of their orphan proteges.

The Russian ship Czarina, commanded by Captain
Orlow, with a person, whom he called Colonel Davidow,
for Lieutenant, had been sometime at Astoria,
and was about to sail for the Russian settlement opposite
Ostroklotz. The captain was son of a Russian
nobleman, irreligious, and abandoned to every
species of dissipation and debauchery. He had
squandered his patrimony in Iicentiousness, and was
compelled to accept the command of a Russian fur
ship, as the only mode of subsistence, that offered to
his ruined fortunes. He had obtained the additional
appointment of commandant of Ostroklotz. Its far
famed harem came in this way naturally under his
power. To cater for this establishment, by supplying

it with new victims, was an episode in the rough
and hazardous functions of a sea captain in those inclement
and boisterous seas, peculiarly congenial to
such a man. In Davidow he found a fit coadjutor.
He had been a colonel in the Russian service, who
had been cashiered for cowardice. But he had relatives
in power, who for their own sake, and on account
of his relationship, procured a mitigation of the
customary punishment in such cases. He had been
simply dismissed the service.

Julius became acquainted with these personages.
Community of principles and pursuits ripened their
acquaintance at once to an intimacy. To provide
two such recruits for the harem of Ostroklotz, as the
two fair orphans, from the Shoshonee valley, was a
service precisely in their line of pursuit. The preliminaries
of an engagement between them and Julius
were not difficult to settle. The pretext for carrying
off Jessy was to be, that she was a distant connexion
of Julius, who had misbehaved, and eloped
from Macoa to Astoria, and thence to the Shoshonee
with Frederic; that he had been there in pursuit of
her, and had now found her, and was reclaiming her,
in virtue of a charge to that effect from her friends.
With regard to Katrina, being just advanced beyond
childhood, and incapable of making out her own case,
in opposition to any plea, they might assign, they took
no measures.

Hatch and Baptiste watched every movement of
the emigrants, from the moment of their arrival.—
Foreseeing, that their first object would be to obtain
a passage in the ship anchored just below the Czarina,
then about to sail for Canton, they were lying in
wait under the river's bank. The moment, in which
the orphans were left by their protectors, who went
on board the China ship, anchored but twenty fathoms
from the shore, was seen to be the critical one of

their fate. They sprang up the bank. The terrified
orphans in faintness uttered but a single scream, when
they were seized. Handkerchiefs were pressed into
their mouths, and the two wretches scrambled down
the bank with them, as the tiger carries off its prey.
The Czarina was ready to cast off her fasts. Julius
was on board, and every thing waiting. The
captives were secured in the inner cabin, and rendered
incapable of cries for help, until the vessel was so
far from the danger of a rescue, as to leave no apprehensions
on that score. Nor did a presentiment of
danger come to the thoughts of their friends, as they
saw the Czarina pass them, scudding under the weight
of the current and the wind.