end of the last portage; or to return with the goods,
if we met too much resistance on the part of the natives.
We travelled, then, all that day, and all the night
of the 6th, and on the 7th, till evening. Finding
ourselves then at a little distance from the rapids,
I came to a halt, to put the firearms in order, and
let the men take some repose. About midnight
I caused them to re-embark, and ordered the men to
sing as they rowed, that the party whom we wished to
overtake might hear us as we passed, if perchance
they were encamped on some one of the islands of which
the river is full in this part. In fact, we had
hardly proceeded five or six miles, when we were hailed
by some one apparently in the middle of the stream.
We stopped rowing, and answered, and were soon joined
by our people of the expedition, who were all descending
the river in a canoe. They informed us that they
had been attacked the evening before, and that Mr.
Stuart had been wounded. We turned about, and
all proceeded in company toward the fort. In the
morning, when we stopped to breakfast, Mr. Keith gave
me the particulars of the affair of the day preceding.
Having arrived at the foot of the rapids, they commenced
the portage on the south bank of the river, which
is obstructed with boulders, over which it was necessary
to pass the effects. After they had hauled over
the two canoes, and a part of the goods, the natives
approached in great numbers, trying to carry off something
unobserved. Mr. Stuart was at the upper end of
the portage (the portage being about six hundred yards
in length), and Mr. Keith accompanied the loaded men.
An Indian seized a bag containing articles of little
value, and fled: Mr. Stuart, who saw the act,
pursued the thief, and after some resistance on the
latter’s part, succeeded in making him relinquish
his booty. Immediately he saw a number of Indians
armed with bows and arrows; approaching him: one
of them bent his bow and took aim; Mr. Stuart, on
his part, levelled his gun at the Indian, warning
the latter not to shoot, and at the same instant received
an arrow, which pierced his left shoulder. He
then drew the trigger; but as it had rained all day,
the gun missed fire, and before he could re-prime,
another arrow, better aimed than the first, struck
him in the left side and penetrated between two of
his ribs, in the region of the heart, and would have
proved fatal, no doubt, but for a stone-pipe he had
fortunately in his side-pocket, and which was broken
by the arrow; at the same moment his gun was discharged,
and the Indian fell dead. Several others then
rushed forward to avenge the death of their compatriot;
but two of the men came up with their loads and their
gun (for these portages were made arms in hand), and
seeing what was going forward, one of them threw his
pack on the ground, fired on one of the Indians and
brought him down. He got up again, however, and
picked up his weapons, but the other man ran upon
him, wrested from him his war-club, and despatched
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