"Ach, what an honor!" he began again.
"Meantime," resumed Calhoun, "not to mention the value which that research would have for us, we could also find use, at proper remuneration, for your private aid in making up a set of maps of that western country which you know so well, and of which even I myself am so ignorant.

I want to know the distances, the topography, the means of travel.

I want to know the peculiarities of that country of Oregon.

It would take me a year to send a messenger, for at best it requires six months to make the outbound passage, and in the winter the mountains are impassable.

If you could, then, take service with us now, we should be proud to make you such return as your scientific attainments deserve." Few could resist the persuasiveness of Mr.Calhoun's speech, certainly not Von Rittenhofen, who thus found offered him precisely what he would have desired.