Mr. M'Donald had
kept up the excitement during the voyage, so that not a midshipman but
revelled in dreams of ample prize-money, nor a lieutenant that would
have sold his chance for a thousand pounds. Their disappointment,
therefore, may easily be conceived, when they learned that their
warlike attack upon Astoria had been forestalled by a snug commercial
arrangement; that their anticipated booty had become British property
in the regular course of traffic, and that all this had been effected
by the very Company which had been instrumental in getting them sent on
what they now stigmatized as a fool's errand. They felt as if they had
been duped and made tools of, by a set of shrewd men of traffic, who had
employed them to crack the nut, while they carried off the kernel. In a
word, M'Dougal found himself so ungraciously received by his countrymen
on board of the ship, that he was glad to cut short his visit, and
return to shore. He was busy at the fort, making preparations for
the reception of the captain of the Raccoon, when his one-eyed Indian
father-in-law made his appearance, with a train of Chinook warriors, all
painted and equipped in warlike style.
Old Comcomly had beheld, with dismay, the arrival of a "big war canoe"
displaying the British flag.
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