th the strength that comes from
victorious conflict--so strong, indeed, that it not only held the
Canadian field, but in spite of the American law[26] forbidding British
traders in the United States, reached as far south as Utah and the
Missouri, where it once more had a sharp brush with lusty rivals.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 21: Some say seventy-four.]

[Footnote 22: The enormous returns made up largely of the Astoria
capture. The unusually large guard was no doubt owing to the War of
1812.]

[Footnote 23: An antecedent of the late Sir Roderick Cameron of New
York.]

[Footnote 24: More of the _voyageurs'_ romance; named because of a voice
heard calling and calling across the lake as _voyageurs_ entered the
valley--said to be the spirit of an Indian girl calling her lover,
though prosaic sense explains it was the echo of the _voyageurs'_ song
among the hills.]

[Footnote 25: Continental soldiers disbanded after the Napoleonic wars.]

[Footnote 26: A law that could not, of course, be enforced, except as to
the building of permanent forts, in regions beyond the reach of law's
enforcement.]

CHAPTER V

MR. ASTOR'S COMPANY ENCOUNTERS NEW OPPONENTS

That Andrew Henry whom Lisa had sought when he pursued the Astorians up
the Missouri continued to be dogged by misfortune on the west side of
the mountains. Game was scarce and his half-starving followers were
scattered, some to the British posts in the north, some to the Spaniards
in the south, and some to the nameless graves of the mountains. Henry
forced his way back over the divide and met Lisa in the Aricara country.
The British war broke out and the Missouri Company were compelled to
abandon the dangerous territory of the Blackfeet, who could purchase
arms from the British traders, raid the Americans, and scurry back to
Canada.

When Lisa died in 1820 more than three hundred Missouri men were again
in the mountains; but they suffered the same ill luck. Jones and Immel's
party were annihilated by the Blackfeet; and Pilcher, who succeeded to
Lisa's position and dauntlessly crossed over to the Columbia, had all
his supplies stolen, reaching the Hudson's Bay post, Fort Colville,
almost destitute. The British rivals received him with that hospitality
for which they were renowned when trade was not involved, and gave him
escort up the Columbia, down the Athabasca and Saskatchewan to Red
River, thence overland to the Mandan country and St. Louis.

These two