Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/458

Rh them being still in doubt from the representations made to them of the difficulties in the way, finally agreed with McKinlay to leave their cattle with him and take orders on the Hudson's Bay Company for the same number and description of California cattle in the Willamette Valley. Among those making this arrangement was Jesse Applegate, who with Waldo owned more stock than any other two men in the emigration. Waldo proceeded with the main body to the Dalles by land, while Burnett, Beagle, McClane, the Applegates, and others, seventy-one in all, decided to take the advice of Whitman and descend the Columbia in boats. Whitman accompanied them to bring home his wife, who was still at the Dalles, where she had taken refuge from the violence of the Cayuses. Burnett had a Hudson's Bay boat and an Indian pilot. Beagle, who was with him, was steersman. He was a good boatman, and familiar with the rapids of the Ohio at Louisville; but those compared to the rapids of the Columbia were insignificant, and Burnett relates that Beagle's cheeks often paled, though he obeyed the intrepid Indian pilot implicitly. This party arrived in safety at the Dalles.