26 THE STORY OF THE TRAPPER 



Company,, and the other Canadians re-engaged under 

 their own flag. When Hunt at last arrived in the 

 Pedler, which he had chartered after the wreck of 

 Mr. Astor s third vessel, the Lark, it was too late to do 

 more than carry away those Americans still loyal to 

 Mr. Astor. Farnham was left at Kamtchatka, whence 

 he made his way to Europe. The others were captured 

 off California and they afterward scattered to all parts 

 of the world. Early in April, 1814, a brigade of Nor 

 Westers, led by MacDonald of Garth and the younger 

 MacTavish, set out for the long journey across the 

 mountains and prairie to the company s headquarters 

 at Fort William. In the flotilla of ten canoes went 

 many of the old Astorians. Two weeks afterward came 

 the belated Isaac Todd with the Nor Westers white 

 flag at its foretop and the dissolute old Governor Mac 

 Tavish holding a high carnival of riot in the cabin. 



No darker picture exists than that of Astoria or 

 Fort George, as the British called it under Governor 

 MacTavish s regime. The picture is from the hand of 

 a North- West partner himself. &quot;Not in bed till 2 A. M. ; 

 . . . the gentlemen and the crew all drunk; ... fa 

 mous fellows for grog they are; . . . diced for articles 

 belonging to Mr. M.&quot; Alexander Henry had written 

 when the Eaccoon was in port ; and now under Gover 

 nor MacTavish s vicious example every pretence to de 

 cency was discarded. 



&quot; Avec les loups il faut liurler &quot; was a common say 

 ing among Nor Westers, and perhaps that very assimi 

 lation to the native races which contributed so much to 

 success also contributed to the trader s undoing. White 

 men and Indians vied with each other in mutual de 

 basement. Chinook and Saxon and Frenchmen alike 



