190 Thirty Years 
I had much difficulty even in obtaining their promise 
to wait at the Copper Mountains for Mr. Wentzel and 
the four men, whom I intended to discharge at the 
sea. 
The fears which our interpreters, St. Germain and 
Adam, entertained respecting the voyage, were now 
greatly increased, and both of them came this evening 
to request their discharges, urging that their services 
could be no longer requisite, as the Indians were going 
from us. St. Germain even said that he had under- 
stood he was only engaged to accompany us as long as 
the Indians did, and persisted in this falsehood until 
his agreement to go with us throughout the voyage 
had been twice read to him, As these were the only 
two of the party on whose skill in hunting we could 
rely, I was unable to listen for a moment to their de- 
sire of quitting us, and lest they should leave us by 
stealth, their motions were strictly watched. This 
was not an unnecessary precaution, as I was informed 
that they had actually laid a plan for eloping ; but the 
rest of the men knowing that their own safety would 
have been compromised had they succeeded, kept a 
watchful eye over them. We knew that the dread of 
the Esquimaux would prevent these men from leaving 
us as soon as the Indians were at a distance, and we 
trusted to their becoming reconciled to the journey 
when once the novelty of a sea voyage had worn off. 
