120 EXPEDITION TO THE 



friend of his, and who had just resumed the superintend- 

 ance of the fort. This gentleman assured him that all his 

 efforts would he used to discover the place where his 

 daughters were, and that he would rescue and protect 

 them until the ensuing spring, when Tanner expected to 

 return to Rainy Lake in search of them. After having 

 travelled with us a few miles on the 3d of September, his 

 pain was so much aggravated, and his arm swollen, by the 

 motion of the canoe, that he found himself unable to pro- 

 ceed; we landed him, and placed him under the care of a 

 dependant on the fort whom we saw engaged in fishing. 

 It was evident that Tanner's grief at being obliged to stop 

 was much mitigated by the hope of being able personally 

 to renew his search after his daughters. Those who ap- 

 peai'ed unfriendly to Tanner at the fort, endeavoured to 

 impress upon his mind the belief that the girls had eloped 

 from him with a view to return to their mother who was 

 on the Lake of the Woods ; but the father replied that the 

 uniform attachment which the)'' had always manifested to 

 him, as well as their ready compliance with his Avish that 

 they should proceed with us, must ever prevent his har- 

 bouring such an idea ; he thought, and probably with good 

 cause, that his daughters had been concealed by some of 

 the half-breeds or dependants on the fort ; their age, which 

 was about fourteen or fifteen, their comely appearance and 



a share in the Hudson's Bay Company. His usual residence was at 

 Rainy Lake ; on our arrival tliere he was absent, having gone to the 

 annual meeting of the partners at York Factory, He returned on the 

 1st of September. His attentions to us during the short time that we 

 saw him were of the most flattering kind, and evinced a generous dis- 

 position ; tliey could be compared only to those of Mr. Mackenzie. 

 We have met with no persons who have in a short time acquired so 

 great a claim to our respect and gratitude as these two gentlemen. 



