Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-05-06
CHAPTER XVII.
A Hunter of Butterflies.

There was at that time in Montreal
q sort of news rooms and public eX-
change, which made a place of general
meeting. 1t was supplied with newspa-
pers and the like and kept up by sub
scriptions of the town merchants-a
spacious room made out of the old
Methodist chapel on st. John street. l
knew this for a place of town gossip
and hoped / might hit upon something
to aid me in my errand, which was no
more than begun, it seemed. Entering
the place shortly before noon, l made
pretense of reading, all the while with
an eye and an ear out for anything
that might happen.
AS l stared in pretense at the page
before me. l fumbled idly in pocket,
with unthinking hand, and brought out
to place before me on the table. an OBJ
iect of which at first was unconscious
the little Indian blanket clasp. AS
it lay before me felt seized of a sud-
den hatred for it, and let fall on it
neavy hand. AS l did so, heard
voice at my ear.
"Mein Gott, man, do not! You break
it, surely"
I started at this. had not heard
any one approach. I discovered now
that the speaker had taken seat near
me at the table and could not fail to
see this object which lay before me.
II beg pardon" he said, in broken
speech which showed his foreign birth;
but it iss so beautiful; to break it iss
wrong"
Something in his appearance and
speech fixed my attention. He was a
tall. bent man, perhaps sixty years OF
age, of gray hair and beard, with the
glasses and the unmistakable air of the
student. His stopped shoulders, his
weakened eye, his thin, blue-veined
hand. the iron-gray hair standing like
ruff above his forehead, marked him
not as one acquainted with a wild life,
but better fitted for other days and
scenes.
pushed the trinket along the table
towards him.
always in the way when l would find
anything in my pocket"
But once some one hass made it;
once it has had value. Tell me where
you get it?"
North of the Platte, in our western
territories" l said. Il once traded in
that country"
You are Americana"
Yes"
SO" he said thoughtfully. so. A
great country, a very great country.
Me, also live in it,
Indeed" | said. In what part?'
1T is five years since l cross the
Rockies"
You nave crossed the Rockies?
envy you"
You meesunderstand me. l live west
of them for five years. am now come
east"
You have been at Fort Vancouver
He nodded. Also To Fort Colville,
far north; also to what they call Cali
fornia, far south: and again to what
they may yet call Fort Victoria. haf
seen many posts of the Hudson Bay
company"
I.was afraid my eyes showed my in
tereSt; but ne went on.
Il hat been in the Columbia country,
and in the Willamette country, where
most of your Americans are settled. l
know somewhat of California. Mr.
Howard, of the Howard Bay company,
knows also of this country of Califor-
mia. He said to those English gentle
mans at our meeting last night that
England should haf something to offset
California on the west coast; because,
though Mexico claims California. the
Yankees really rule there, and will rule
there yet more. He iss right; but they
laughed at him"
"Oh. | think little will come OF all
this talk" | said carelessly. 1T is very
far out to Oregon" Yet all the time
my heart was leaping. So he had been
there at that very meeting of which
could learn nothing!
You know not what you say. A
tnOQSuIu
year. 1t iss like one OF the great mi
grations of the peoples of Asia, of Eu-
rope. | say to you, it ISIS great epoch.
There iss a folk movement such as we
haf not seen since the days nf the
Huns. the Goths. the Vandals, sine" the
Cimn movement. 1t iSS an epoch, my
friend! II iSS fate that iSS i'm il.
so. then. it is great country? |
asked.
1T iss so great, these traders do not
wish Il known. They wish only that 1t
may be savage: also that their posts
and their harems may be undisturbed.
That iss what they wish. These Scots
20 wild again. in the wilderness. TneE
trade and they travel. but it isS not
homes they build. Sir George Simpson
wants steel traps and not ploughs west
of the Rockies. That iss all.
They do not speak so of Doctor
Mclaughlin" l began tentatively.
MY friend a great man. McLaugh-
lin. believe me. But he isS not Mckay;
is iss not simpson: he is not BehrenS;
he is not Colville; he is not Douglas.
And | say to you. as l learned last
night-yDu see, they asked me also to
tell what knew of Oregon-I say to
YOU that last night Mclaughlin was
dep0scd He isS i'm charge no more-So
soon as they can get word to him. ne
loses his place at Vancouver"
After a lifetime in the service!"
commented.
"Yess. after q lifetime: and Nc
I.aughlin had brain and heart too. If
England would listen to him, she would
learn something's. He plants. he pl"wS,
he haSs gardens and mills and houses
and herds Yess. if they let McIaugh-
lin alone. they would haf 4 civilization
ON the Columbia. and not fur-trading
post Then they could oppos" your civ
iliZation there That iss what he
.l,.I. OIL hat G.