Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/22

 the 3rd of June, reached Mr. Simpson on that date, how different might have been the result!

On the 6th of June Mr. Simpson left Red River Settlement, with the purpose of crossing the prairies to St. Peter's on the Mississippi, and thence making his way to England.

On starting from the Colony, he was accompanied by a party of settlers and half-breeds. Eager to reach England, he got tired, in a very few days, of their slow movements, and went on ahead in company with a party of four men. He pursued his journey with much rapidity; for, on a chart which was found with his other papers after his death, we trace his day's journey on the 11th of June to have been forty-seven miles in a straight line.

Subsequent to that date every circumstance is involved in mystery. All that can be ascertained with certainty is, that, on the afternoon of the 13th or 14th of June, Mr. Simpson shot two of his companions; that the other two mounted their horses and rejoined the larger party, a part of which went to the encampment where Mr. Simpson was alone, on the next morning; and that Mr. Simpson's death then took place.

Whether he shot these men in self-defence,