40 THE STORY OF THE TRAPPER 



son s Bay man left Salt Lake, he had no furs ; and when 

 General Ashley came away, his packers were laden with 

 a quarter of a million dollars worth of pelts. This 

 was the second brush between Rocky Mountain and 

 Hudson s Bay, and again the mountaineers scored. 



The third encounter was more to the credit of both 

 companies. After three years wanderings, Smith 

 found himself stranded and destitute at the British post 

 of Fort Vancouver. Fifteen of his men had been killed, 

 his horses taken and peltries stolen. The Hudson s Bay 

 sent a punitive force to recover his property, gave him 

 a $20,000 draft for the full value of the recovered furs, 

 and sent him up the Columbia. Thenceforth Rocky 

 Mountain trappers and Hudson s Bay respected each 

 other s rights in the valley of the Columbia, but south 

 ward the old code prevailed. Fitzpatrick, a Rocky 

 Mountain trader, came on the same poor Peter Ogdcn 

 at Salt Lake trading with the Indians, and at once 

 plied the argument of whisky so actively that the furs 

 destined for Red River went over the mountains to St. 

 Louis. 



The trapper probably never heard of a Nemesis; 

 but a curious retribution seemed to follow on the heels 

 of outrage. 



Lisa had tried to balk the Astorians, and the Mis 

 souri Company went down before Indian hostility. 

 The Nor Westers jockeyed the Astorians out of their 

 possessions and were in league with murderers at the 

 massacre of Seven Oaks; but the Nor Westers were 

 jockeyed out of existence by the Hudson s Bay under 

 Lord Selkirk. The Hudson s Bay had been guilty of 

 rank outrage particularly on the Saskatchewan, where 

 North- West partners were seized, manacled, and sent 



