Page:Recollections of My Boyhood.djvu/59

Rh Emigrants were hungry all the time. Children seated in the boats would enjoy themselves for hours gnawing off the fat coating from the dried salmon skins. An emigrant not hungry was thought to he ill.

Now it was noised around that we were approaching Fort Vancouver, a Hudson Bay station or trading post. We had to pass Cape Horn on the way. We were advised to pass in the night, as there would be less danger of a storm at that time. Some time in the night the boats were moving slowly along near the north shore; there was no wind and the rain had moderated into a mist. It seems that I alone of all the children was awake. I was waiting for the show, and had just begun on another salmon skin, when Cape Horn was announced. Our boat passed within a few feet of the Horn. I could see it quite distinctly. It looked quite smooth, but seemed to be standing on end and sticking up out of the water. I could not see the upper end. I was told it was a rock. Then I must have fallen asleep, for I awoke on the beach at Fort Vancouver the next morning. What I had expected to see before closing my eyes, tired, hungry and sleepy though I was, was a genuine horn sticking out of the river bank, with a cape of some kind spread about it. Of all my disappointments on our long journey to Oregon, this last was the greatest.

The first talked of wonder I had been anxious to see was* Red River, a river not on our route. Next came the Missouri line, which I did not see, although I thought we must have crossed it somewhere. Arrived at "Ash Holler" I did not see any ashes, nor did I hear anything "holler." Later on I was looking for the Black Hills. Hills I saw, but they were not black. Blue River bad faded out, Chimney Rock was only a sharp pointed rock on the top of a hill, not a chimney at all. The "Devil's Backbone" was only a narrow ridge on Snake River. Green River was not green, and Sweetwater was a disappointment, too, for I took a drink of it. It was brackish but not sweet. What a string of disappointments for a small boy, who had his mind made up to see all these marvelous sights.

It was broad day when I awoke that morning at Vancouver. Our camp was near the river and the fort was a little farther inland. Breakfast was being served when I opened