In this he was joined by Mr.Crooks,--who, notwithstanding all that he had suffered in the dismal journey of the preceding winter, was ready to retrace his steps and brave every danger and hardship, rather than remain at Astoria.

This little handful of adventurous men we propose to accompany in its long and perilous peregrinations.
The several parties we have mentioned all set off in company on the 29th of June, under a salute of cannon from the fort.

They were to keep together for mutual protection through the piratical passes of the river, and to separate, on their different destinations, at the forks of the Columbia.

Their number, collectively, was nearly sixty, consisting of partners and clerks, Canadian voyageurs, Sandwich Islanders, and American hunters; and they embarked in two barges and ten canoes.
They had scarcely got under way, when John Day, the Kentucky hunter, became restless and uneasy, and extremely wayward in his deportment.
This caused surprise, for in general he was remarkable for his cheerful, manly deportment.

It was supposed that the recollection of past sufferings might harass his mind in undertaking to retrace the scenes where they had been experienced.