The boats and canoes
were immediately hauled up, a breastwork was made of them and the
packages, forming three sides of a square, with the river in the rear,
and thus the party remained fortified throughout the night.
The dawn, however, dispelled the alarm; the portage was conducted in
peace; the vagabond warriors of the vicinity hovered about them while
at work, but were kept at a wary distance. They regarded the loads
of merchandise with wistful eyes, but seeing the "long-beards" so
formidable in number, and so well prepared for action, they made no
attempt either by open force or sly pilfering to collect their usual
toll, but maintained a peaceful demeanor, and were afterwards rewarded
for their good conduct with presents of tobacco.
Fifteen days were consumed in ascending from the foot of the first rapid
to the head of the falls, a distance of about eighty miles, but full of
all kinds of obstructions. Having happily accomplished these difficult
portages, the party, on the 19th of July, arrived at a smoother part of
the river, and pursued their way up the stream with greater speed and
facility.
They were now in the neighborhood where Mr. Crooks and John Day had
been so perfidiously robbed and stripped a few months previously, when
confiding in the proffered hospitality of a ruffian band.
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