Hunt to engage as an interpreter. He had been employed in
that capacity by the Missouri Fur Company during the preceding year, and
conducted their traders in safety through the different tribes of the
Sioux. He had proved himself faithful and serviceable while sober; but
the love of liquor, in which he had been nurtured and brought up, would
occasionally break out, and with it the savage side of his character.
It was his love of liquor which had embroiled him with the Missouri
Company. While in their service at Fort Mandan, on the frontier, he had
been seized with a whiskey mania; and, as the beverage was only to be
procured at the company's store, it had been charged in his account at
the rate of ten dollars a quart. This item had ever remained unsettled,
and a matter of furious dispute, the mere mention of which was
sufficient to put him in a passion.
The moment it was discovered by Mr. Lisa that Pierre Dorion was in
treaty with the new and rival association, he endeavored, by threats as
well as promises, to prevent his engaging in their service. His promises
might, perhaps, have prevailed; but his threats, which related to the
whiskey debt, only served to drive Pierre into the opposite ranks. Still
he took advantage of this competition for his services to stand out with
Mr.
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