Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/93

Rh Verendrye would not permit, although in refusing he risked incurring the scorn and enmity of his allies. Such a war would seriously jeopardize further westward exploration, and would inevitably result in the death and torture of such Frenchmen as might be found in the Sioux country.

The following autumn brought Verendrye, as he notes in his journal, "only a little aid." Evidently his new backers were hardly more to be relied upon than the former had been. Doubtless too, the returns from the marketing of furs fell below their expectations, although the country was, as subsequently proven, rich in peltries. Perhaps the actual necessities of the party consumed more of the profits than the Montreal merchants considered fair; also the failure of the Montreal people to supply trade goods in adequate quantities must have been a serious handicap; and above all, the heart of the leader was not in the building up of profitable trade, but rather in a more glorious adventure,—the discovery of the new northwest passage, the passage by land to the sea and so to India and Cathay.

Besides the disaffection of his associates Verendrye now had to cope with the importunities of the Assiniboines and Crees, who demanded that he obtain military protection for them from the Sioux. The unavenged insult offered to the whites by the latter had, they alleged, increased the audacity^of their enemies to a dangerous degree.

Early in the summer of 1737, Verendrye set out again for Montreal leaving his three remaining sons and most of his voyageurs among the Indians. This journey seems to have had happier results. He obtained from the Governor not only the usual praise and permission to continue his activities,—for which Verendrye seemed always to be touchingly grateful,—but some military aid. The following summer (1738) he returned with six canoes and twenty-two men to Lake of the Woods. In