Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/108

98 best to avoid the payment without giving offense was the question. He knew that the Indians possessed a keen sense of the ridiculous; and, after reflecting a moment, he picked up a cobble-stone and solemnly offered it to the chief, saying: "Eat this." The Indians present at once saw how ridiculous it was to demand payment for that which was of no practical value to them, and set up a loud shout of derisive laughter. The chief was so much ashamed of his silly demand that he walked off in silence, and never after that demanded payment for things of no value to him.

While the company's ships lay at anchor in the river opposite the fort, the doctor occasionally granted a permit, written, to some particular Indian to visit the ships. On one occasion he granted such a permit to an Indian who was seen by other Indians to go on board, but was not seen by them to return, though, in fact, he did so return. Within a day or two thereafter, the brother of this Indian, being unable to find him, and suspecting that he had been enticed on board the ship, and either murdered or forcibly imprisoned for the purpose of abduction, applied to the doctor for a permit to visit the ship. As the Indian concealed his reason for asking the permit, the doctor supposed he was influenced by an idle curiosity, and refused the request. The Indian returned again for the same purpose, and was again refused. He came the third time, with the same result. He then concluded that his brother must either be imprisoned on the ship or had been murdered, and he at once resolved upon revenge. In the evening of the same day, about an hour before sunset, a shot was heard, and the gardener came running into the fort in great terror, with a bullet hole through the top of his hat, saying that an Indian had fired upon him from behind the garden fence. The gates of the fort were at once closed, and all hands prepared for defense. Upon subsequent investigation, the body of the missing Indian was found in the bushes, in the rear of the fort. He had evidently fallen down in a fit, and expired where his body was found. No attempt was made to punish the surviving brother, as he had acted under a very natural mistake.

On one occasion the Indians determined to take and sack Fort Vancouver. The plot for this purpose was conceived, and in part executed, with consummate ability.

Two of their most powerful chiefs quietly went from Fort Vancouver to Nesqually, a trading post on Puget Sound, and remained there several days. While there, they made themselves minutely acquainted with everything about the fort. They then speedily returned to Fort Vancouver, and at once sought and obtained an interview with Doctor McLoughlin and his associates. One of the Indians was the speaker, while the other carefully watched to see what im-