On the following morning (May 26th), as they were all on shore,
breakfasting on one of the beautiful banks of the river, they
observed two canoes descending along the opposite side. By the aid of
spy-glasses, they ascertained that there were two white men in one of
the canoes, and one in the other. A gun was discharged, which called the
attention of the voyagers, who crossed over. They proved to be the three
Kentucky hunters, of the true "dreadnought" stamp. Their names were
Edward Robinson, John Hoback, and Jacob Rizner. Robinson was a veteran
backwoodsman, sixty-six years of age. He had been one of the first
settlers of Kentucky, and engaged in many of the conflicts of the
Indians on "the Bloody Ground." In one of these battles he had been
scalped, and he still wore a handkerchief bound round his head to
protect the part. These men had passed several years in the upper
wilderness. They had been in the service of the Missouri Company under
Mr. Henry, and had crossed the Rocky Mountains with him in the preceding
year, when driven from his post on the Missouri by the hostilities of
the Blackfeet. After crossing the mountains, Mr. Henry had established
himself on one of the head branches of the Columbia River. There they
had remained with him some months, hunting and trapping, until, having
satisfied their wandering propensities, they felt disposed to return to
the families and comfortable homes which they had left in Kentucky.
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