35



JOSEPH L. MEEK.



  Of the men left in camp, only two escaped. One man named Blackl de-
fended himself until he saw an opportunity for flight, when he escaped to
the
cover of the woods, and finally to a friendly tribe farther north, near the
coast,
who piloted him to Vancouver. The remaining man was one Turner, of a very
powerful frame, who was doing camp duty as cook on this eventful morning.
When the Indians rushed upon him he defended himself with a huge firebrand,
or half-burnt poplar stick, with which he laid about him like Sampson, killing
four red-skins before he saw a chance of escape. Singularly, for one in his
ex-
tremity, he did escape, and also arrived at Vancouver that winter.
  Dr. McLaughlin received the unlucky trader and his three surviving men
with every mark and expression of kindness, and entertained them through
the
winter. Not only this, but he dispatched a strong, armed party to the scene
of the disaster to punish the Indians and recover the stolen goods; all of
which
was done at his own expense, both as an act of friendship toward his Ameri-
can rivals, and as necessary to the discipline which they everywhere maintained
amongf the Indians. Should this offence go unpunished, the next attack might
be upon one of his own parties going annually down into California. Sir
George Simpson, the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, chanced to be
spending the winter at Vancouver. He offered to send Smith to London the
following summer, in the Company's vessel, where he might dispose of his
furs
to advantage; but Smith declined this offer, and finally sold his furs to
Dr.
McLaughlin, and returned in the spring to the Rocky Mountains.
  On Sublette's return from St. Louis, in the summer of 1829, with men and
merchandise for the year's trade, he became uneasy on account of Smith's
pro-
tracted absence. According to a previous plan, he took a large party into
the
Snake River country to hunt. Among the recruits from St. Louis was Joseph
L. Meek, the subject of the narrative following this chapter.  Sublette not
meeting with Smith's party on its way from the Columbia, as he still hoped,
at
length detailed a party to look for him on the head-waters of the Snake.
Meek
was one of the men sent to look for the missing partner, whom he discovered
at length in Pierre's Hole, a deep valley in the mountains, from which issues
the Snake River in many living streams. Smith returned with the men to
camp, where the tale of his disasters was received after the manner of moun-
tain-men, simply declaring with a momentarily sobered countenance, that their
comrade has not been " in luck;" with which brip f and equivocal
expression
of sympathy the subject is dismissed. To dwell on the dangers incident to
their calling would be to half disarm themselves of their necessary courage;
and it is only when they are gathered about the fire in their winter camp,
that
they indulge in tales of wild adventure and "hair-breadth 'scapes,"
or make
sorrowful reference to a comrade lost.
   Influenced by the hospitable treatment which Smith had received at the
 hands of the Hudson's Bay Company, the partners now determined to with-
 draw from competition with them in the Snake country, and to trap upon the
 waters of the Colorado, in the neighborhood of their fort. But " luck,"
the
 mouptain-man's Providence, seemed to have deserted Smith. In crossing the
 Colorado River with a considerable collection of skins, he was again attacked