He frankly avows such suspicions, in his letter to Mr. Astor, but
intimates that he stood ready to resist any treasonous outbreak; and
seems to think that the evidence of preparation on his part had an
effect in overawing the conspirators.
The fact is, as we have since been informed by one of the parties, it
was a mischievous pleasure with some of the partners and clerks, who
were young men, to play upon the suspicious temper and splenetic humors
of the captain. To this we may ascribe many of their whimsical pranks
and absurd propositions, and, above all, their mysterious colloquies in
Gaelic.
In this sore and irritable mood did the captain pursue his course,
keeping a wary eye on every movement, and bristling up whenever the
detested sound of the Gaelic language grated upon his ear. Nothing
occurred, however, materially to disturb the residue of the voyage
excepting a violent storm; and on the twenty-second of March, the
Tonquin arrived at the mouth of the Oregon, or Columbia River.
The aspect of the river and the adjacent coast was wild and dangerous.
The mouth of the Columbia is upwards of four miles wide with a peninsula
and promontory on one side, and a long low spit of land on the other;
between which a sand bar and chain of breakers almost block the
entrance.
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