Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/629

578 those rare occasions, as aleady mentioned, on which the company's servants received their small allowance of spirits, describes a grand carouse, ending on shipboard.

The subject of military organization had been neglected in the amended organic law, through a wise forbearance, as its existence was calculated to create suspicion and prevent the perfect fusion of rival elements. The apparently critical aspect of affairs in the spring of 1846, however, induced some public-spirited citizens to call a meeting at the house of David Waldo, in Champoeg County, and organize a company of mounted riflemen. Charles Bennett was made captain. It appears to have been a revival of