Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/34

 26 T.W.DAVENPORT. ing, even if he had been proven guilty of shielding the perpe- trators of the crime. To hasten matters she sent the carriage to the Umatilla landing, and when the steamboat touched the wharf I was surprised to see Mr. L. D. Montgomery, the agency farmer, seated in the carriage and ready to convey me home. As I had been detained one day at The Dalles, he had been waiting as long and brought the only account of the happenings I have just described. There was no telegraphic connection be- tween the Umatilla and down the river towns in those days, and I had been pursuing the even tenor of my way in blissful ignorance of the distressful things taking place at the agency. This was Wednesday, and in order to reach Walla Walla the next day, we must get home that night, which we did about 11 o'clock. The Indians had horsemen on the road and were, therefore apprised of my coming, and waiting at my house to hear what I had to say to them. I first enquired if they had learned anything new as to the Indians who committed the outrage, but they had not, and the circumstances were so vague and disconnected that no white man could be convicted upon such evidence. Howlish Wampo, however, had no knowledge that a crime had been committed. My advice was to go to their homes and not to be at all anxious, for there was really nothing in it. Early the next morning I set out alone for the fort, and though the wintry air was crisp enough to make one's ears tingle, the drive was exhilarating and pleasant. Just before sunset I stopped at the west gate of the fort and there beheld a scene which awakened in me sympa- thies I was scarcely conscious of having. I had often read of the incarceration of the victims of injustice, and how their friends and relatives had endured toil, privations, sickness and even death to rescue them, but reading is one thing, while wit- nessing such devotion is quite different. The fort is situated on a treeless plain, the soil of which is an alkaline dust mixed with gravel and sparsely set with sage and srreasewood. At this time a hoar frost made it especially uncomfortable for campers, even though well furnished with